Russia takes careful approach to Karabakh conflict settlement – State Duma

Russia takes careful approach to Karabakh conflict settlement – State Duma
# 03 March 2017 12:39 (UTC +04:00)

Russia is taking a careful approach to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in compliance with the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Galust Saakyan in Yerevan March 3, APA reported citing Interfax.

“A lot has been done to resolve the conflict as much as possible to avoid the escalation of tension in the South Caucasus. However, we have to make sure the escalation is utterly eliminated,” he said.

The Duma speaker added that Russia has the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under constant control. “It should be noted that such problems can not help but concern us,” he said.

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 includes Nagorno-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 OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the 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 adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno Garabagh

#
#

THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED