Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Moscow has recently voiced strong commitment for resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is the source of instability and tension in the South Caucasus region.

Russia, being one of the three co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group tasked to mediate for peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, asserted that it is using all available tools to mediate between the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the high-level meetings.

"Amid the continuing difficult situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, Russia played an active role in mediating between the sides of the conflict," the Russian foreign ministry said.

The country has recently vowed to make independent efforts for contributing the stalled peace talks.

“These initiatives were thoroughly discussed during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Yerevan in April and Baku in June. The Armenian foreign minister paid an official visit to Moscow in April, while the Azerbaijani foreign minister in May. The initiatives were discussed during these visits," Russian foreign ministry said.

Moscow has recently made certain suggestions for the peaceful resolution of the problem. Currently, the new proposals put forward by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on solving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict are under consideration.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has recently said these proposals reflect the agreements reached during the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Sochi, Newport and Paris and have been worked out based on the renewed Madrid principles.

The Russian foreign ministry further noted that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries are committed to solve the conflict peacefully.

"In a statement of the heads of the delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries (Russia, U.S., France) at a meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade in early December, the sides were urged to reaffirm the commitment to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and continue the work aimed at achieving the comprehensive settlement on the basis of the existing proposals," the ministry said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

The sides to the conflict currently hold talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc.

However, the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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