Russia Denies Accusations of Inaction Over Post-Soviet Conflicts
Baku Today
Politics
02/02/2005 21:18
BAKU, Feb 2, (AFP) – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia denied
Wednesday that Moscow was turning a blind eye to ethnic conflicts in
the former Soviet Union.
“It is strange for me to hear that Russia is passive in making
efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the same goes
for other conflicts in the post-Soviet area,” Lavrov told reporters in
the Azeri capital, Baku. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been stalemated
over Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, since Armenia
took control of the region in 1994.
Lavrov said Russia has supported the implementation of all agreements
reached between Georgia and its two separatist republics, Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, and is more active than others in pushing for
the settlement of the conflict between Moldova and the breakaway
Transdniestr region. “There is no lack of initiative steps from our
side,” Lavrov said. “What there is, is a deficit of good will between
the conflicting parties.”
Russia has come under fire from western governments and from nations
that lost territory during secessionist conflicts after the break
up of the Soviet Union, for tacitly supporting separatist regimes in
former Soviet republics.
Russia is plagued by its own separatist conflict with rebels in
Chechnya, which has raged intermittently since 1993.
Copyright AFP