DMITRY MEDVEDEV: KARABAKH CONFLICT SHOULD BE RESOLVED BY PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ONLY
Noyan Tapan
Se p 2, 2008
SOCHI, SEPTEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. During the September 2 tete-a-tete
talk of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev in Sochi, the two presidents noted with satisfaction the
high level of the current strategic allied cooperation and political
dialog between Armenia and Russia, which proceeds from the interests
of the two sister nations.
NT was informed by the RA presidential press service that the situation
in the South Caucasus was discussed during the meeting. D. Medvedev
said that the member states of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) will work out their position on the events in South
Ossetia during a summit to be held in Moscow at the end of the week.
Both interlocutors expressed confidence that it is in the interests
of all states to restore peace and stability in the region. The sides
pointed out that such development of events proves once again that
resolution of the South Caucasian conflicts by means of military
operations lacks prospects and leads to unpredictable consequences.
A number of problems related to the prospects of cooperation in
security and military-technical spheres within the framework of
CSTO in the bilateral and multilateral formats were addressed at the
meeting. In the words of S. Sargsyan, Armenia, which will soon take
over the chairmanship of the CSTO, intends to use this period for
raising the efficiency of this organization.
Problems connected to the process of settling the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict were also discussed. D. Medvedev reasserted his position
that the conflict should be resolved by peace negotiations only. He
expressed his support for the current negotiation process in the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Speaking about the problems of economic cooperation, S. Sargsyan and D.
Medvedev underlined with satisfaction the growth in commodity turnover
between the two countries and in Russian investments in the Armenian
economy in recent years. The sides also discussed the prospects of
implementing joint regional projects in energy and transport sectors.