Russia lauds Iran mediation in Karabakh

Russia says it has no opposition to Iran’s initiative to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Friday that Moscow does not oppose Iran’s proposal to hold trilateral talks involving Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran on the Karabakh dispute, RIA Novosti reported.

“We have nothing against the meeting. If such a meeting is held, obviously, it is necessary to wait for the results and then speak of the possibility of Iran’s mediation in the Karabakh conflict settlement,” Nesterenko added.

He went on to say that Iran’s mediation proposal only referred to a trilateral meeting at this stage.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested a trilateral meeting involving the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to resolve the dispute “through negotiations and on the basis of justice.”

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have laid claim to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.

Armenia took control of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s following a short but bloody war with Azerbaijan in which around 30,000 people lost their lives.

While a ceasefire was brokered in 1994, the dispute continues to remain unresolved despite years of international mediations.