Russia to continue to contribute to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
By Rashid Shirinov
Russia will continue to contribute to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on May 4.
“Of course, we have a very consistent position on this issue and, in general, we do not depart from it, so we will continue to assist the parties,” she noted.
She added that it is necessary to wait until the political situation in Armenia stabilizes.
“Armenia is now going through difficult political times, and I think we need to wait until the situation in the political sphere finally stabilizes, when the people, political forces and political movements decide on the composition of the governing bodies,” Zakharova said.
The spokeswoman emphasized that after this, there will be every opportunity to resolve foreign policy problems, including the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Russia, along with the U.S. and France, is a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker peace to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict 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 regions. 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.
Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijan’s territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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