MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijan-Armenia-Russia format was not reached with disregard for Iran’s interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Iranian state television and radio broadcaster on Saturday.
The parties to the conflict themselves expressed their interest in Russia’s mediation. "There is no ‘back’ thought in that," the foreign minister stressed.
"Now it is necessary to think not about who and when has had or has not had the time to help the settlement. Let me stress again, it was the choice of Azerbaijan and Armenia to decide on the format. The structure of the participants in the [trilateral] statement [on the complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh] was prompted precisely by that and not by anything else. There were no and could have been no attempts to do this at the expense of Iran or Turkey," Lavrov said.
Russia’s top diplomat also said that when the Astana format (Russia, Iran and Turkey) was mentioned in the context of the Karabakh conflict as an example of success, the talk was not about the countries involved in it.
"Our position is as follows: when the countries that have the possibility to influence the situation in a particular crisis region (even if they advocate different approaches that do not always coincide) decide to help the conflicting parties stop the bloodshed and unite their efforts, this serves as a good example. This is the value of the Astana format," Lavrov pointed out.
Iran’s interests were not ignored in this case in any way and Moscow understands Tehran’s concerns over how the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia will have their effect on the Islamic Republic’s transit interests that have special significance amid the US sanctions, Russia’s top diplomat said.
"It is impossible to give up the basic principle that has been approved by all for many years: a conflict must result in normalizing the relations in the entire region," Lavrov said.
Moreover, the trilateral statement by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh is consonant with the Iranian initiative announced amidst the conflict and offering a regional approach, Russia’s foreign minister said.
In Lavrov’s opinion, a similar vision geared towards regional cooperation was outlined by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who mentioned the possibility of developing cooperation between the three Trans-Caucasian states (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and their three neighbors: Iran, Turkey and Russia.
"This is an observation that lies on the surface. We all live nearby and now that the problems between the Trans-Caucasian countries are being overcome, we, as neighbors, need to help this process," Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.