October 5, 2006 - 15:06 AMT
Russia Interested in Karabakh Conflict Soonest Settlement
A joint press conference of Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took place in Strasbourg yesterday. The top officials referred to the settlement of conflicts available in the CIS space. Sergey Lavrov stated he sees no sense in UN's engagement in the resolution of CIS conflicts, since the conflicting sides have already agreed on the settlement principles. In his words, the agreements and settlement formats remain in case of any conflict emerging on the CIS territory and this is the only way to resolve the so-called "frozen conflicts". When commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Sergey Lavrov said, "Russia is interested in the soonest settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs spare no effort for it." According to the Russian FM, the mediators have the exact wording for each unsettled issue however "the final decision is up to the conflicting sides," reports RFE/RL.