Russia to help reconcile Armenia, Azerbaijan for settlement in Karabakh - ambassador

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Russia will continue taking steps for bringing closer the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said in an interview with TASS. "After a four-day war on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016, that was stopped thanks to Russia’s involvement as mediator in due time, the co-chair countries (Russia, US and France) took a range of steps for normalizing the situation," Volynkin said, speaking about the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg. "Unfortunately, at the moment the agreements reached with the international mediation, including on creating a mechanism on investigating armed incidents and expanding the mission of OSCE observers in the conflict zone, have not been implemented," the ambassador stressed. Moreover, on December 29 the clashes already occurred on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. A number of Armenian troops died and one of Azerbaijani soldiers who carried out an attack was killed on Armenia’s territory, he said. "In general, Russia calls for the return of calm and stability to South Caucasus. We don’t see alternative to the peaceful settlement and will continue efforts jointly with partners in the Minsk Group aimed at bringing closer the positions of the sides," he said. The situation along the contact line of conflicting sides in Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2 when fierce clashes began. The parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce. An agreement on the ceasefire from April 5 was reached in Moscow at the meeting of chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Since then, the sides have reported ceasefire violations along the contact line. A trilateral statement adopted after a meeting of the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in St. Petersburg on June 20 confirmed the parties’ commitment to normalizing the situation along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh. Read more