In the context of Russia's deterrence policy, the United States is interested in creating instability near its borders, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told an open interview with first Deputy Director-General of TASS Mikhail Gusman.
"The United States, as part of its overall policy of deterring Russia, is interested in creating certain "boils" on the perimeter of Russia's borders that will force us to use existing resources to counter such threats," he said.
The Deputy Minister added that in this way, according to Washington, the US managed to distract Russia from participating in solving more global problems. "The only answer that we can give is to use the potential that we have and the resources that we have accumulated over our history to try to resolve situations of so-called frozen conflicts and, through bilateral cooperation, to create incentives for the countries themselves to find an opportunity or see for themselves all the benefits of developing cooperation with the Russian Federation," Rudenko said.
Foreign Ministry: Russia will do everything possible to reduce tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Russia will use all possibilities to resolve the current tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Rudenko said. "I can only assure you that we will do everything possible and show all the best qualities of Russian diplomacy and people's diplomacy in order not only to [settle] the current border conflict, but also in general to improve relations between our fraternal and close countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia has such opportunities, and we have used them many times, including during the last outbreak of hostilities around Nagorno-Karabakh in 2017. I am sure that all our capabilities will be used, " he said.
The Deputy Minister noted that "now the primary task of the entire international community is to quickly stop what has been happening in the last two days [on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia]." "In this regard, the balanced position of those states that are also members of the Minsk group is very important, and the Minsk group on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict unites a much larger number of states than only the three co-chairs. These countries that surround and border this region should show maximum balance, responsibility and restraint, including in public rhetoric," Rudenko said.
The Deputy Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that the situation was not taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh, but "directly on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia". "We are very concerned about what is happening. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs [of Russia] made a corresponding statement, in which we called on the parties to immediately cease fire and start negotiations in order to prevent a repeat of these incidents, - said Rudenko. - Unfortunately, the confrontation, let's say, on the border continues, this night there was another outbreak of clashes."
According to the diplomat, Russia is making every effort to put an end to the bloodshed in contacts with Foreign Ministers and the heads of the General Staff of both countries.
The danger of the situation, Rudenko continued, is that it "may affect the security of the entire region." "The region is really very explosive. There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, or any relations at all. The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh remains unsettled. In this regard, the role of mediators and co-chairs of the Minsk group, which includes Russia, France and the United States, naturally increases," he added.
"Currently, intensive contacts are taking place with the involvement of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides, of course. We hope that the efforts will lead to concrete results, " the Deputy Minister said. - Now the main thing is to stop the bloodshed on the border there and to deal more actively with the settlement of basic issues, to intensify the efforts of the Minsk group and the co-chairs. I am sure that they will do this, and plans have already been made to advance this process."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS
Based on materials from TASS