Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s international affairs committee, in an interview with Armenian journalists, referring to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said that he is convinced that the deployment of peacekeeping forces to the contact line is mandatory. Generally, the deputy of the Federal Council believes that the comprehensive and complete solution to the issue should be left to the next generation because negotiating for the representatives of this generation is quite difficult, the wounds are fresh. But the point that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the issue is unequivocal for Dzhabarov. In this context, he highlights the Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting in Vienna, the agreements achieved there and their binding implementation. The Head of Russian Foreign Ministry CIS Department, Alexei Pavlovsky, in the meeting with Armenian journalists, also highlighted the process going on in the OSCE Minsk Group platform, the unanimity of co-chair countries in this matter: the absence of alternative for the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the 1994 ceasefire agreement come into effect. Parallel to the Minsk Group process, according to the Russian official, Russia will continue to make additional efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the issue as Russia has very close relations with the parties to the conflict compares with other co-chairs, which no one disputes and expresses reservations when RF makes “own moves.” These days, several Armenian journalists are in Russia capital Moscow under the “New Vision” project in cooperation with the mass media. As for the deployment of peacekeeping forces, Russian official notes that this issue has always been in the negotiation package, but it will be topical if at least the timing vision for the settlement is agreed. Regarding the return of the Nagorno-Karabakh to the negotiation table, the Russian official said, “I have not seen any of the participants to raise this issue officially.”
To the observations that on the 4-day war, Yerevan, on behalf of the President Serzh Sargsyan, raised this issue, also the NKR officials have repeatedly stated about it, Alexei Pavlovsky said that he is aware of it and the issue was discussed but whether Yerevan proposed it officially and noted that this issue is not included at least in the Vienna agreements. “It is clear that Yerevan perhaps would have considered it desirable, it is obvious but whether he formulates it as a negotiating claim, it a bit different level,” – he said, adding that he is not aware of the details of the negotiation process, hence his observations might also be “abstract”.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
