Nagorno Garabagh

Nagorno Garabagh

Putin says Russia interested in resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

14 April 2016 14:31 (UTC +04:00)

“A compromise should be found. I thought we were close to it a few years ago, but things turned out to be different,” Putin said.

The president added that Russia will continue to work to resolve the conflict bilaterally and within the framework of international organizations.

This [Karabakh conflict] is a very sensitive issue that should be dealt with extremely carefully in accordance with the principle ‘do not harm’, Putin said.

“This is an old problem, a long-standing conflict. Unfortunately, there was an outbreak of violence,” the president said noting that Russia will do everything to help solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Of course, there is a need for a lasting solution that should be found through political means,” he stressed.

“Millions of Azerbaijanis and Armenians live in Russia. Fortunately, there is no such problem in Russia,” Putin said. “Moreover, I know Azerbaijanis and Armenians have preserved good interpersonal relations.”

Russia will continue to contribute to the conflict’s settlement, however, the final decision must be for the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Putin concluded.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includesNagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam,Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCEMinsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.