MOSCOW: Russia pledges to be guarantor of Karabakh settlement

Russia pledges to be guarantor of Karabakh settlement

Interfax news agency
14 Jun 05

Moscow, 14 June: Russia is ready to act as a guarantor of a Karabakh
settlement if Azerbaijan and Armenia find a compromise agreement,
Aleksandr Yakovenko, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman
said on Tuesday [14 June].

“Russia would be ready to give its backing to a solution to the
problem which would suit both parties involved, and if a compromise
agreement is reached, it would act as a guarantor of the settlement,”
the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Aleksandr Yakovenko said that Russia intended to continue to promote
actively the search for solutions to the Karabakh tangle and that
this position on the issue remains unchanged.

“We are against imposing any blueprints from outside on the parties
to the conflict. We proceed from the understanding that the main
responsibility for a final choice must rest with Azerbaijan and
Armenia,” The Foreign Ministry official spokesman said.

Touching upon Moscow-Baku bilateral contacts, Aleksandr Yakovenko
mentioned active growth in trade and economic relations. According to
his information, trade between Russia and Azerbaijan increased by 50
per cent in 2004 and by 40 per cent in the first five months of 2005.

“The positive tendency of high growth in trade is there, and this gives
us the hope that the top-level agreement on doubling it to reach 1bn
dollars within the next few years will be implemented successfully,”
Aleksandr Yakovenko said.