Russian FM says Nagorno-Karabakh status must be decided in future

YEREVAN, January 19. /ARKA/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on Monday that the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was not mentioned in the November 9 statement deliberately. The statement was signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to end the hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

'The territory on which the Russian peacekeepers are deployed is the zone of their responsibility. We proceed from this in our contacts with Yerevan and Baku," Lavrov said.

According to him, now the details of  the organization of transport communications in the region, supplying the zone of responsibility of peacekeepers, rendering humanitarian assistance to people living in the zone of Russian peacekeepers' responsibility are being worked out. He added that 50 thousand Karabakh Armenians have already returned from Armenia to Karabakh.

Lavrov stressed that the problem of the status of Karabakh is so contradictory given the positions of Yerevan and Baku, that  all three leaders decided to bypass this issue and leave it for the future.

“This, among other things, should be dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. They have now resumed their contacts with the parties and are going to visit the region again,” Lavrov said.

In this context, he stressed that the issues of status will be resolved the easier, the sooner  the  statements made by Baku and Yerevan are fulfilled.

"The main thing now is to bring back normal daily life to all communities, ethnic and religious, which used to coexist in Karabakh and which will have to restore their peaceful, good-neighborly coexistence," Lavrov said, expressing hope that emotions will be thrown back to the background.

In his opinion, now is not a very convenient time to put forward the topic of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as a priority.

"I guarantee 100% that the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers - and this is how this status is defined in practical terms - is a form that will ensure the interests of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides," he said.

Lavrov expressed  hope that international organizations will also have the opportunity to work in this region (except for the Red Cross, which has been working there for a long time and coordinates its actions with Russian peacekeepers).