The United Nations should pay special attention to solving regional conflicts, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during presentation of credentials by envoys in the Kremlin.
"The UN should pay special attention to solving regional conflicts, ensuring their steady, lasting and long-term settlement," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
The Russian President recalled that at the recent session of the UN General Assembly there were concerns over the growing number of challenges and threats, which the international community is facing.
"The priority for all countries should be absolute respect for the rule of law and the authority of the UN Security Council as a structure that has major responsibility for maintaining international peace and security," the President stressed.
Putin noted that Russia is committed to the tasks of increasing efficiency of the United Nations Organization, we support its reforms and adaptation to the modern day demands.
He pointed out that the changes should be well-thought. "We believe it is important that any quality changes in the organization’s work should be well-thought and should be carried out if not with the agreement of all, but with a broad consensus of the global community participants," Putin added.
The Associate Professor of the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, Alexey Fenenko, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the president's statement concerns also the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, within which the UN could follow three ways as an intermediary. "The scenario number one is linked to the fact that over the last 25 years all of us could be sure that the OSCE Minsk Group has not achieved any result as an intermediary, which means that they can try to create a new negotiation format under the auspices of the UN," he suggested.
"The second option is to transfer the Minsk Group from the OSCE format to the UN format. And finally, the third option is sending the UN monitoring mission to the conflict zone, which could end speculation on the topic who constantly opens fire in the conflict zone and breaks the negotiations," Alexey Fenenko stressed.
As for Vladimir Putin's words about the need to comply with the decisions of the UN Security Council, then, as applied to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, this means fulfilling four Security Council resolutions, which Armenia still refuses to implement. According to the Associate Professor of the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, it is necessary to maximally dilute the issues of de-occupation of Azerbaijani territories and negotiations on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"They can influence Armenia by compelling it to comply and continue negotiations on the basis of the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, with the de-occupation of the two and then five occupied regions of Azerbaijan. First de-occupation, then the discussion about the status of Karabakh. As a result, the current task is to return back to the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, not to let them fail," Alexei Fenenko concluded.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
