Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Russia actively supports political and diplomatic settlement of conflicts in the post-Soviet area, including the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

This was stated in the new Russian foreign policy concept, approved by President Vladimir Putin and published on the official Kremlin website.

It was stated that the country backs settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the framework of the existing multilateral negotiating mechanism.

The statement reads that Russia supports settlement of the conflict in cooperation with other states co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group and based on the principles outlined in joint statements of the presidents of Russia, the U.S. and France, which were made in 2009-2013.

Russia's role in Nagorno-Karabakh settlement was also noted by Turkey. "Turkey respects Russia’s will in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on December 1.

The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement was also discussed during the visit of Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on December 1, as part of Karasin’s working visit to Azerbaijan.

Karasin held consultations with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

He discussed the pressing issues of bilateral and international agenda during the talks with Azerbaijani partners.

Karasin added that the further efforts aimed at speedy settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict will be made and effective measures on the conflict settlement will be supported.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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