Moscow hopes that the statement of the leaders of the Minsk Group Co-Chair states (Russia, USA, France) will influence the parties to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was announced Thursday by Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia at a press conference on the occasion of the beginning of Russia's presidency in the Security Council in October.
"The Minsk Group is ready to facilitate [negotiations], but an important condition for dialogue is the willingness of the parties themselves. Unfortunately, so far we have heard certain statements that indicate that this is not the case," he said. "We hope that the statement of the Minsk Group presidents will change this situation," the diplomat added.
"The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh raises serious concerns for us. Not because it is very close to our borders, but mainly because both Armenia and Azerbaijan are not strangers to us. These people are not strangers to us," Nebenzha said. "We have special relations with both countries," he emphasized.
Nebenzia also rejected the claims that Russia and Turkey support different parties to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. "Yes, Turkey unequivocally supports Azerbaijan. We know it. But it doesn't mean that we are on the other side, supporting Armenia against Azerbaijan. We support a fair settlement, we support a ceasefire, we support a cessation of hostilities," he said.
"We want both states to stop this escalation," Nebenzha added.
The situation in the Persian Gulf
The debate on the situation in the Persian Gulf with the participation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be a key event starting Thursday with Russia's chairmanship of the UN Security Council (SC), Nebenzia said. "The first key event will be the debate on October 20 on the theme of maintaining peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region," he said. - We have invited the UN Secretary General as well as representatives of the countries of the region to speak," he said.
The novelty of the Russian presidency will be that the meetings on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria will be united into one discussion on October 27. "We suggested to combine them with the understanding that if circumstances require it, we will divide the meetings," Nebenzia explained. At that, traditionally closed meetings of the Council on chemical disarmament of Syria will be held in an open format on October 5 on the initiative of Russia.
Meeting of the Middle East Quartet
Russia initiated a meeting of the "Quartet" of international mediators for the Middle East settlement (Russia, the US, UN, EU) during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in September, but the consultations were not held, said Nebenzia. "For your information - we offered to hold a ministerial meeting of the Quartet during the high-level week, I spoke with the Secretary-General [UN Antonio Guterres], who also supported this initiative. But it failed for obvious reasons," he said, probably implying the US position.
"We believe the Quartet is a mechanism that has proven effective in the past and should be used now that we are in a desperate position to talk about a Palestinian-Israeli settlement," Nebenzia added.
As it was informed on September 30 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Russia suggested holding the session of "quartet" at ministerial level with the participation of the League of Arab States (LAS) for discussion of maintenance of the peace in the Middle East. On September 29 at the initiative of the Russian party, a teleconference of special representatives of "quartet" took place.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Zuma \ TASS
Based on materials from TASS