Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Russia will do everything to find a solution to the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, as Moscow is interested in the conflict settlement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the remark as part of annual direct line on April 14.

Putin went on to add that a compromise should be found.

“Several years ago, it seemed, we were quite close to the settlement, but things turned out to be different,” Putin said. “This is a very sensitive topic, which should be treated according to the "Do no harm" principle.”

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.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Putin further added that Russia will continue working to resolve this issue within the framework of international organizations and in a bilateral format.

“Russia, no matter what anyone says, is interested in solving this issue,” he said. “We want to work with both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Russia will make its contribution to the solution of the conflict, but the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia must make the final decision.”

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the release of the regions around Karabakh and simultaneous addressing of the issue of its status will allow unlocking the situation in the conflict zone.

Armenia staged provocations on the contact line of troops on April 2, thus making the Azerbaijani side to retaliate the mass attacks targeting not only military positions, but also civilians.

Following Yerevan’s provocations, Azerbaijan has replied with a strong counter attack and later unilaterally called on truce. Despite the parties to the conflict have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact through the mediation of Russia, which is the co-chair country in the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia continues to breach fragile ceasefire.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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