MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Moscow is keen on settling relations between Baku and Yerevan, and therefore Russia is not letting up in its efforts to this end, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing on Wednesday.
"We have been and still remain fully committed to advancing the normalization process in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. We are going to great lengths to achieve lasting peace and harmony in the region, and our other commitments, which we implement as well, fully pertain to the South Caucasus. How can we talk about any decrease in activity provided that over the past couple of months, a string of high-level and highest-level contacts involving Russia has taken place?" the diplomat said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman pointed out that the speculations about a potential decision to pull Russian peacekeepers out of Nagorno-Karabakh are "absolutely baffling," especially "against the backdrop of the current extremely difficult humanitarian situation there."
"It is well known that our peacekeepers perform important functions, including prisoner exchanges, demining efforts, settling incidents and providing humanitarian aid. Regrettably, we often see Armenia’s high-ranking officials taking an ambiguous stand on a number of key issues, so we would like to see no ambiguity concerning this issue, as mincing words does no good," she emphasized.
In addition, Zakharova said that the Russian peacekeeping contingent’s crucial contribution to security in the area of its deployment was repeatedly praised at the highest level, and the demand for its actions in normalizing the situation was emphasized.
"Therefore, these attempts to cast doubt here raise some important questions. To sum up, after Armenia’s leadership recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, any claims to Russia about how it’s not doing enough look twice as inappropriate," the diplomat concluded.