Ekho Moskvy radio, Russia
March 15 2008
RUSSIA REJECTS AZERI-SUBMITTED UN RESOLUTION ON KARABAKH
Baku is threatening to change the nature of relations with Russia.
This reaction followed after the UN General Assembly had passed a
resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh. Our country was among those who did
not support the documentsubmitted by Azerbaijan. In its turn, the
Russian Foreign Ministry called the document counterproductive. In
aninterview to our radio station, Andrey Krivtsov, the Foreign
Ministry’s official spokesman, said that Moscowbelieves this
resolution meets only Baku’s interest while ignoring Yerevan’s
position.
[Krivtsov] The draft resolution includes only some of the basic
principles of settlement, those which meetexclusively Azerbaijan’s
interests. They don’t mention, for instance, the establishing of
NagornyyKarabakh’s final legal status through holding a plebiscite
among its population in order to show the free andgenuine will of the
people. This approach made the draft unacceptable to the Armenian
side and worsened prospects forresuming as soon as possible top-level
talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement afterthe first [as heard, presumably newly-elect] Armenian
president took office.