MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Russia sees Western countries’ attempts to meddle in the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and discredit Russian peacekeepers in the region, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexey Shevtsov said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta government daily on Monday.

"We see persistent attempts by the United States, the EU and particular Western countries to meddle in the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, discredit the Russian presence in the region and strengthen their own positions," the security official said.

As the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council pointed out, "Western states are good at instigating and fanning conflicts but cannot boast any special merits in settling them."

Russia "has invariably acted as a peacekeeper and a defender in the South Caucasus," Shevtsov said.

"There is no need to recall that it was Russia that made a decisive contribution to halting the hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020 and brokered trilateral accords at the highest level that laid the basis for normalizing the relationships between the two countries," the security official said.

"Presently, we are taking all efforts for these accords to be implemented," he said.

"Russian peacekeepers are carrying out the objectives of preventing escalation in the contact area. Work is underway to draft a peace treaty, unblock transport routes, restore economic ties, delimit the border and build confidence," the security official said.

It was at Russia’s initiative that a proposal was made to send a monitoring mission of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to the conflict area, Shevtsov said.

"Unfortunately, the decision on its deployment at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was not carried through but the proposal remains in force," the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said.