The head of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs stated that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia expressed their readiness to continue the dialogue on a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem after the trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Minister noted that the talks were effective.
Yesterday the US co-chair of the Minsk Group, James Warlick, told the Voice of America that the meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will enable the sides to stop violence along the contact line.
- As we see the status quo in Karabakh and the issue becoming dangerous, considering the escalation of violence along the line of contact, is the conflict that used to be described as "frozen" is now active and what should be done to reduce tensions?
- First of all, let me thank you for coming in to the State Department. It is a pleasure to talk to you and also to reach out to your many viewers in the region. Of course, we are very much concerned about the situation along the line of contact. As you see, the situation is not frozen at all. Tell the mother of a dead or injured soldier, that this is a frozen conflict. It has not been frozen and we are very much concerned about the escalations. There are things that should be done about this new escalation. The first, and I am very pleased to see that the presidents may be meeting with each other in Sochi today or tomorrow and we hope that they can make progress on key issues, especially putting an end to the violence along the line of contact in the Armenian and Azerbaijanш border. We also hope very much that the recent threats that we have heard from some of the parties involved and also the provocative threats can end. They don't bring us closer to peace. In fact, they incite violence. If we are going to find a way to a lasting settlement, we need to see an end to hostile rhetoric and these kinds of provocative threats. So one of the outcomes of this very important meeting with President Putin, I hope, will be a commitment from both sides that they will end this hostile rhetoric, respect the cease of fire and work with the co-chairs towards a peaceful settlement.
- Do you think that the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides are ready for this?
- Well, I can assure you in my conversations with both presidents that they are committed to finding a way to peace, they want to negotiate a settlement and they do not want further violence. Period. And we want to work with them, we are there to mediate a settlement. But first of all, there has to be a political will on the part of the presidents. And I hope that we will see that. By the presidents talking with each other, we hope that there will be a renewed commitment to finding a way to a lasting peace. So we are very hopeful about the way ahead. Now, we are concerned about what's happening. Neither side wants to look weak in the face of the other and we understand that. That said, the way towards the peaceful settlement is through negotiating table and not through the battle field.
- Let's go to the Russia's role in this conflict. In the past few years Russia appears to have supplied significant amounts of armaments to Azerbaijan. Both Russian and Azerbaijani officials have estimated the total volume of defense contracts signed since 2010 at nearly 5 billion dollars. Given this, what are Russia's true intentions, in your opinion?
- Well, Russia has a lot on its plate right now, а lot of concerns in its neighborhood. Certainly it doesn't want to add to its problems by hostilities increasing and an escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nor do we want to see this. We have been working very productively with the Russians, I work closely with my Russian co-chair to help to find a negotiated settlement. And we'll continue to do that, and I believe Russia will continue to do that. Russia has no interest in seeing renewed violence and instability so close to its borders. Nor do we want to see this. We have an interest as well in seeing peace and stability in the South Caucasus. We are committed to working with the parties and finding a way to a lasting settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh. Look, these countries in South Caucasus are our friends, these are our partners around the world. And we expect to continue those important relationships and we expect to work with Russians productively on this and other conflicts. In the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, I believe we can work together to bring about a peaceful settlement.
- But then how do you explain why would Russia sell weapons to Azerbaijan knowing that it is a country which is in conflict?
- Well, Russia of course is free to have commercial relations with any countries it chooses, as is the United States and many countries. That does not prohibit them from working productively with us to find a way towards peace. Of course, it is up to two countries - Armenia and Azerbaijan - to restrain from the use of force and to renounce violence as a way towards solving Nagorno-Karabakh. What we want to see is that countries come together at the peace table. I would say also that the presidents simply meeting on occasion with the foreign ministers meeting on occasion is not sufficient to bring about a negotiated settlement. We want to see more. We want to see a negotiating process that is more intensive than occasional meetings. We believe that that kind of process can help to bring about the settlement we are looking for.
- Thank you very much and one last question. Considering what's going on in the world (Ukraine, Iraq, Syria) can Karabakh issue be considered as priority for the U.S. foreign agenda?
- You are very right, this is a busy time in the world. In recent memory I haven't seen so many points of tension and concern. But that does not make Nagorno-Karabakh any less important. As I said, we have a commitment to working with our partners in the South Caucasus. Our goal is to see Europe free, whole and at peace and this is what we are working for. Right now Nagorno-Karabakh remains a stain on Europe and we want to make sure that it is resolved in a way which is of course just and fair to all the parties, but ends the kind of violence that we've seen and leads to exactly what I've said: a Europe whole, free and at peace. I believe this is the goal of Armenia and Azerbaijan as well.
