RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER RULES OUT IMPOSED SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT
MosNews, Russia
June 1 2006
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday that talks
between Azerbaijan and Armenia were the only way to resolve the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Interfax news agency reported.
Speaking in Baku, where he met his counterparts from other post-Soviet
states – members of the CIS – he said a solution imposed from outside
could be counterproductive and dangerous.
Russia, the United States, and France co-chair the Minsk Group of
nations tasked with helping solve the 18-year-old conflict.
At the same time, the minister did not rule out that a peacekeeping
contingent could be deployed in the conflict zone in the
self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh “in the foreseeable
future”.
“As far as Nagorno-Karabakh is concerned, I do not rule out that
peacekeeping forces could be brought in in the foreseeable future.
Their mission will be to guarantee the implementation of all political
agreements that will be reached sooner or later,” he said.
This uncertainty cannot continue forever, he said.