Moscow expects the next meeting of the “3+3” consultative regional platform to be held soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated.
“In the South Caucasus, the ‘3+3’ regional cooperation platform—Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, the countries of the South Caucasus, and their three large neighbors: Russia, Iran, and Turkey—has become a promising venue. The participants in this platform have agreed to advance a unifying agenda. We hope that another meeting in this format will take place in the near future,” Lavrov said during the high-level plenary session of the 4th Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security.
Earlier, Lavrov noted that it would be appropriate to hold the next “3+3” meeting in Azerbaijan, followed by the subsequent one in Armenia.
The “3+3” regional cooperation format involves three South Caucasus nations—Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia—and three neighboring powers: Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The inaugural meeting took place in Moscow in December 2021 at the level of deputy foreign ministers; the second was held in Tehran in October 2023, and the third in Istanbul in October 2024 at the foreign ministerial level. Georgia did not participate in any of these sessions.
Critics view the “3+3” format as a geopolitical project aimed at squeezing the United States and the European Union out of the region.
