Representative of Russian Foreign Ministry about Purpose of Vienna Meeting and Ways to Resolve Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova at a briefing in Moscow told about the purpose of the upcoming May 16 Vienna meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, the U.S.A. and France.

 "The main purpose of considering the possible advice is to try to strengthen the ceasefire regime and reduce the risks of war and to agree on the strengthening of specific confidence-building measures. I emphasize that it is in the plans, the work on which is now quite active," she said.

"We believe that such a meeting should and will contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the conflict zone and create the necessary conditions for the resumption of the negotiating process aimed at achieving a comprehensive settlement," she added.

 How does Moscow see the settlement of this conflict? On this question Zakharova said: "It should be settled only by peaceful political and diplomatic means on the basis of the documents already taken and internationally recognized, which was signed between Baku and Yerevan. The appropriate settlement should be built on this international legal platform by political and diplomatic methods. We hope that's how it will be done. No other, alternative ways, for example, the military way, ever exist. We see the consequences of the attempts to solve the problem in the military way, or to prejudge, or to change the course of the settlement. This is a road to nowhere."

Commenting on the deliveries of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan, Zakharova said: “Russia maintains military-technical cooperation on a clear international law and bilateral legal basis.

  We fully understand the complexity of the situation and we think the following methods can lead to calming the situation not in words, but really. We have clearly said that these methods include, above all, political and diplomatic settlement, the intention and desire of the parties with the support of the mediators to seriously address the existing problems and to work towards peace. It seems to me that from the time when the worsening took place, our position has been clearly set out. It lies in the fact that it is in the political and diplomatic track that the answer to that question should be looked for - in particular, Armenia is also interested in that - how to make sure that no more blood will be shed. To do this, there is diplomacy. The possibility of holding a meeting in Vienna is worked out for this. You know that Russia's role in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is very high. As you know, in recent years we have made a number of proposals, which approached the parties to the search for a final decision. Unfortunately, at the last moments these agreements did not reach the final phase for various reasons, but you should know well that it is Russia that has constantly initiated various proposals for stimulating the process of settlement."    -02D-