Trend, Azerbaijan
Feb 5 2010

Russian president confirms his country’s readiness to contribute to
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 5 / Trend News /

Russia calls on all countries to refrain from confrontational foreign
policy and form a new joint approach to solve the actual problems,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the ceremony of presentation
of credentials of foreign ambassadors to Russia today, ITAR-TASS
reported.

In particular, referring to the Armenian Ambassador, Medvedev
confirmed Russia’s readiness to contribute to the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement.

"Russia is ready to further assist in positively promoting the
negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement," he said
noting that he is confident that it fully meets the interests of
preserving peace in the Caucasus.

Russia considers as a priority to continue to work within the
framework of integration associations in the CIS and, of course,
substantive interaction on the international arena, he added.

"In foreign policy, we sought to ensure the necessary conditions to
work together to create a new design for work and to form a new joint
approach, instead of confrontational politics and archaic geopolitical
apportionments, to deal effectively with such major global challenges
such as terrorism, food shortages, climate change and create a fair,
balanced and stable peace and order, he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.