RUSSIA, ARMENIA COMMITTED TO NON-USE OF FORCE IN RESOLVING CRISES – MINISTERS
Interfax News Agency
October 3, 2008 Friday
Russia
Yerevan, 3 October: Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia has
proven that any attempts to resolve conflicts with the use of force
are doomed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
"Any attempts to settle crisis situations by force are doomed to
fail," Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with his Armenian
counterpart Edvard Nalbandyan. He added that both, Russia and Armenia,
are convinced that conflicts must be resolved by peaceful means,
through talks.
Commenting on the Istanbul initiative for establishing a "Caucasus
platform", Lavrov said that Russia welcomes any ideas aimed to ensure
that the situation in any region is stable.
He also denied reports that official Baku had allegedly expressed
support for Tbilisi in the first days of the Georgian aggression
against Russia [as received]. "I am not aware of any such statements
on behalf of Azerbaijan. On the contrary, in all their comments
the leadership of that country adhered to a balanced position. Our
relations with Azerbaijan are not dependent on changing external
circumstances," Lavrov said. [Passage omitted]