Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Russia’s position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged, Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on September 13.

“We, of course, analyze everything that is being said, both the ways of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the statements that are being made in the countries concerned. I would like to remind that Russia’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement remains unchanged,” she said.

Zakharova noted that for its part, Russia, as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, will continue to provide the parties with the mediation assistance necessary to reach a compromise, but, of course, the parties to the conflict must create appropriate conditions for moving forward.

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 conflict.

The two countries fought a lengthy war that ended with signing a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh 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.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

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

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