AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2009

Armenia expects Russia to retract statement on Garabagh

20-11-2009 06:58:39

The Armenian government is seeking a retraction from Moscow following
a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman that the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is being discussed as part of
Turkey-Armenia reconciliation talks.
Armеniа Today news agency quoted Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian as
saying that Andrei Nesterenko was a professional diplomat but this
time he committed `an omission.’
`Andrei Nesterenko made a mistake, it happens. I suggest we wait for a
refutation from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which probably won’t
take long.’
Nalbandian claimed that the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement has no
bearing to the process of settling the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh
conflict.
`Nesterenko’s statement runs counter to the statements being made by
the Russian foreign minister, as well as those made by Russia jointly
with the other co-chair countries of the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group
– the United States and France,’ Nalbandian claimed, adding that those
statements have repeatedly ruled out a link between Garabagh
settlement and Ankara-Yerevan normalization.*