Medvedev: Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan seek to maintain ceasefire to the best of their ability

 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has answered Russian media questions following his visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan. 
"I will make no secret of the fact that initially, the central issue was the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and, of course, we discussed it among our top priorities," he said. 

"The most important thing that I realised, at any rate, at present, is that both countries, the leaders of both countries, are determined to honour the ceasefire agreement to the best of their ability, to do their utmost to settle the existing differences, the conflict and all the sad consequences of what happened quite recently, at the negotiating table. I hope that they will adhere to these approaches in the future as well," the Russian government press- office cites Medvedev as saying.
In response to the question if the sides are ready for compromise, concessions and, perhaps, guarantees that fighting will not resume, Medvedev said: "I'd like to mention something that I did not hear, which I believe is extremely important.  During my conversations with my colleagues both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan, I heard neither the presidents nor the prime ministers state that military escalation is the only way to resolve the conflict.

On the contrary, all of them said that the resolution of this extremely complicated conflict lies in negotiations and that there is no alternative to the ceasefire and turning the ceasefire into a lasting peace. This is by far the most important thing." He recalled that the conflict has dragged on since 1991, but there are mechanisms, formats, proposals and a group that has been working on a settlement. 

The Russian prime minister said: "The most important thing now is that everything that we have achieved during recent years - I personally have been involved in this, the countries' presidents and foreign ministers are still involved in this - the most important thing is to utilise all these mechanisms to the maximum degree possible. Everything is in place: procedures and groups, and they meet regularly. Unfortunately, as we can see, this is not a guarantee against this kind of aggravation or the dramatic events that took place recently. 

Nevertheless, it would be even more dangerous to create something new now, as we would thus paralyse this work. I believe it is essential to calm down and return to the negotiating table that has been put in place over the past 20 years.
Regarding Russia's role, it is obvious, as we are participants in the Minsk Group and co-chairs, and we have never shirked our responsibility. As soon as all of this happened, the Russian President called President Aliyev and President Sargsyan, stating our position and urging the sides to calm down, return to the negotiating table, start consultations and declare a ceasefire.  Naturally, these efforts should continue. Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visited Baku. Yesterday, I had talks in Armenia and today in Azerbaijan. So, far from evading our share of responsibility for ensuring the continuous settlement process, we are closely involved in it," Medvedev said.