ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
October 19, 2004 Tuesday 10:09 AM Eastern Time

Baku counts on Moscow in dealing with Karabakh problem

By Veronika Romanenkova

MOSCOW

Baku hopes that Moscow will help Azerbaijan achieve the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

“We are hoping Russia will continue to exert efforts (to bring about
a settlement over Nagorno-Karabakh) as our neighbor and co-chairman
of the OSCE Minsk Group,” President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting in
the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader looked back on the recent meeting of the
presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“I am certain that there will be a chance to discuss one of the worst
problems existing in the Caucasus, that of Nagorno-Karabakh, in a
calm situation,” he said.

“That you participated in the meeting with the Armenian president
makes on hopeful we shall be able to make progress,” Ilham Aliyev
said.

Earlier on Tuesday Putin said that Russia would continue active
peace-making and negotiating activities alongside Azerbaijan and
other CIS countries in eliminating the intricate bundle of
contradictions in the Caucasus.

“Our country is extremely interested in the peaceful and stable
development of this affluent region,” Putin said.