"From the legal viewpoint the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) was a part of the Azerbaijani SSR. Now Nagorno Karabakh is an unrecognized state and the issue of its borders and who belongs it to lies in the sphere of international law," OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement Yuri Merzlyakov stated to a press conference in Yerevan. He said, after the collapse of the USSR Karabakh turned into a subject from the object of international law. "That's why the issue of who it belongs to is so painful. At the press conference in Baku I underlined that Nagorno Karabakh was a part of Azerbaijani SSR and not of Azerbaijan," he added. At the same time the Russian mediator noted that OSCE MG recognizes the principle of territorial integrity of states. "If not this, can you image what would happen in the whole world? I perfectly know that till 1917 Nagorno Karabakh was a part of the Russian Empire. The history is necessary in order to settle conflicts, but it is necessary to proceed from international law," Merzlyakov underscored.