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Baku expects Russia to step up effort on Nagorno Karabakh

An Azerbaijani presidential aide said Monday that Baku hopes that Russia will make more efforts to achieve resolution of the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh and make them more efficient.

Ali Hasanov, the Presidential Administration`s head of social and political issues, made this statement in response to the question regarding expectations in the Karabakh conflict resolution during the Vladimir Putin`s presidency.

``I believe that if Russia is not even more active in this matter and does not increase its efforts in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict, neither the OSCE nor its Minsk Group [a group brokering peace talks co-chaired by Russia], nor other international organizations can achieve major progress in this sphere,`` Hasanov said.

He underlined that Russia has significant leverage over Armenia, therefore, Moscow may ``direct this country to a constructive course`` by piling pressure on Yerevan.

``We do not want more from Armenia -- we want it to take a constructive position in negotiations, withdraw its occupying troops from Azerbaijani territories [occupied since the 1990s war] and create the conditions for the restoration of civil, national and ethnic rights of both Azerbaijanis and Armenians residing in Nagorno Karabakh,`` Hasanov added.