Tehran Times
June 23 2005
Russia says elections do not change status of Nagorno Karabakh
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia said Wednesday a solution to the dispute over
the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh should not depend on
elections held there, and that the presence of Russian observers at
the vote did not imply recognition.
“Moscow considers that the resolution of the conflict should not
depend on the organization of such and such elections in Nagorno
Karabakh,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Officials of the breakaway state have argued that Sunday’s vote, from
which the ruling party emerged victorious, was a step toward
international recognition.
“The Russian citizens who traveled there as observers are in Karabakh
on their own accord and exclusively in a personal role,” the
statement said. The ministry reiterated that Russia “has never
recognized Nagorno Karabakh as an independent state,” and “always
supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”
Azerbaijan considers any vote in the region illegal until hundreds of
thousands of Azeris banished from Karabakh and seven surrounding
regions are allowed to return.
The enclave is widely seen as being propped up by Armenia, which
fought Baku in a war for control over Nagorno Karabakh between 1993
and 1994 that claimed some 25,000 lives and forced another million
residents — mostly Azeris — from their homes.
Armenia is the only country to recognize Nagorno Karabakh as an
independent state.