Moscow welcomes recent political contacts between Yerevan, Baku

TRussia welcomes recent political contacts between Yerevan and Baku, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on January 31.

Zakharova added that Russian stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has not changed. She declared that Russia performs a mediating function in good faith, and it seems to her qualitatively.

She welcomes the recent political contacts between Yerevan and Baku at various levels.

”We heard the constructive assessments that the capitals themselves gave on this issue and we believe that this is the right way to move forward,” said Zakharova.

The Caucasus has extremely important geopolitical significance for Russia. In strategic terms, Azerbaijan is undoubtedly more significant for Russia than Armenia. Therefore, an early resolution of the NagornoKarabakh conflict should be in the interests of both Azerbaijan and Russia.

Azerbaijan keeps its stance on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution unchanged. Any option for the solution of the conflict should be based on the principle of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. UN resolutions must be implemented, the Armenian army must leave the occupied Azerbaijani lands and more than one million Azerbaijani citizens must return their native lands. As soon as the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is restored, the government can grant people living in Nagorno-Karabakh a high status.

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.

As a result of Armenia's armed invasion into Azerbaijan's legal territory, the two neighboring countries have remained locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

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.

Despite Baku's best efforts, peace in the occupied lands remains a mirage in the distance as Armenia refuses to comply with international law.