Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are on the rise, Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of CIS Countries of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Kalugin said following the IV meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani Expert Council held on November 27 in Moscow.

He noted that the communiqué adopted at the end of the meeting "identifies the vectors for the development of dialogue for the years ahead, which the countries will try to strengthen and develop.”

Kalugin said that the Russian Foreign Ministry pays great attention to the 3+2 platform. He reminded that Georgia didn’t take part in this format, but "the door is always open for it.”

He also announced attempts by third countries to interfere in the affairs of the South Caucasus: "It is no secret that Western players are competing around the countries of the region.”

In his opinion, everything that is proposed on Western platforms for the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia is copied from the "Russian Federation-Azerbaijan-Armenia mechanism”: "They are trying to brazenly steal what we have already achieved. We must work out these decisions ourselves.”

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