Accusations towards Russia of betrayal due to the alleged lack of support for Armenia in resolving the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh are absolutely unfounded, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on RT TV channel.
"Accusations against Russia are absolutely unfounded," the spokesman replied to the remark that the country allegedly didn’t significantly support Armenia in resolving the conflict in Karabakh, and some Armenians regard Russia's position as a betrayal.
Peskov said that Moscow considers both Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to be friends of Russia.
According to him, the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) proposed formulas for resolving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the adoption of which a few years ago would have avoided bloodshed.
As the press secretary noted, the military operation in the region was preceded by ‘many years of attempts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and, first of all, Russia to offer some formulas for the conflict's settlement.’
"These formulas existed, they are well known to the participants in the international negotiation process, but, unfortunately, they didn’t work for one reason or another," Peskov added.
On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would remain on the positions they hold and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Armenia and Azerbaijan should carry out the exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of those killed. Aghdam region will be returned to Azerbaijan before November 20, Kelbajar region - before November 15, Lachin region - before December 1.
