MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expressed hope on Wednesday that peace initiatives formulated jointly with Russia would be used in resolving the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"This region can be viewed as a focal point in the truest sense, as another region where the peace initiatives which the sides (Armenia and Azerbaijan - TASS) have worked out jointly with Russia will hopefully be implemented," the Russian diplomat told Sputnik radio on Wednesday.
Zakharova criticized the West’s blatant attempts to meddle in the situation in the South Caucasus. According to her, such a course is being pursued not to resolve the conflict, but to attain "quite the opposite goals," a trend she said Russia had been witnessing for years.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman could recall no example of a successful normalization involving Western partners, as she said that the number of conflicts caused or initiated by the collective West had increased. "Nobody can claim that the situation has improved somewhere where the collective West’s foot, hand or thought has reached," Zakharova concluded.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference following talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov that the so-called civilian mission in Armenia, being pushed by the European Union, had raised questions in terms of its legitimacy.