Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25
Trend:
Azerbaijan has always taken a constructive position regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said during a meeting with the Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov, RIA Novosti reported.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh issues cannot but worry us. You know that Russia stands for a peaceful settlement of this conflict. Everyone who stands for the aggravation of relations, and all those who do not hear the words and the desire of the people to live in peace, of course, go along the path of tension. We must do everything to prevent this from happening. Azerbaijan has always taken the right and constructive position (on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict)," Volodin said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.