Interfax, Russia
May 15 2009

Russia against imposing settlement "recipes" on sides in Karabakh conflict

YEREVAN May 15

Russia welcomes regular meetings between the Armenian and Azeri
presidents that have been taking place as part of negotiations to
resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Security Council
Deputy Secretary Yury Zubakov told a conference on security and
cooperation in the Caucasus.

"The latest bilateral summit in Prague is the fourth such event over
the past 11 months. And although certain important issues dealing with
the main principles for the Karabakh settlement process have not yet
been solved, today’s tendency allows us to be cautiously optimistic.

But this optimism is reasonable," Zubakov said on Friday.

Russia does not want any conflict settlement formulas to be imposed on
the parties involved in the conflict, he said.

"The sides to the conflict should be primarily responsible for it.

A solution will be viable if it helps strengthen peace and stability
in Transcaucasia and if it does not allow the region to be turned into
an arena for international political rivalry. The most important thing
is to refrain from devising abstract principles and larger-than-life
plans that would meet the interests of only one party. Rather, it is
necessary to seek an actual solution to such complex conflicts," the
Russian official said.