Moscow skeptical about U.N. peacekeeping mission in Artsakh 

ArmInfo.We presume that the Russian peacekeeping contingent is effectively coping with all the tasks of restoring peace and security in Nagorno-Karabakh.  This was  stated by Director of the Department of International Organizations  of the Russian Foreign Ministry Pyotr Ilyicheva in an interview with  RIA Novosti on the eve of the Diplomatic Worker's Day.

So, to the question whether Russia intends to support the initiative  to send a UN fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor to assess  the humanitarian situation and whether Moscow considers it necessary  to raise the issue at the UN that Russian peacekeepers in the zone of  the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict be endowed with a UN mandate, The  Russian diplomat noted that Moscow proceeds from the fact that the  implementation of any initiative to assist the parties in resolving  problematic issues is possible only with the official consent of both  Baku and Yerevan.

"Therefore, any substantive conversation is possible only if the  Azerbaijanis and Armenians themselves express their interest.

So far, the only guarantor of maintaining stability in the zone of  the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains the Russian peacekeeping  contingent. There is no need to give it a UN mandate, since the  modalities of the activity of our peacekeepers are already clearly  fixed in the first tripartite statement of the leaders of Russia,  Azerbaijan and Armenia dated November 9, 2020. On this issue, there  is a consensus among the participants in the dispute, and this fact  is key here," he said.

When asked to express his attitude towards the idea of Armenia to  send a multinational mission of UN peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh,  Ilyichev noted that Moscow proceeds from the fact that the Russian  peacekeeping contingent is effectively coping with all the tasks of  restoring peace and security in Nagorno- Karabakh.

"In this regard, it should be especially noted that the activities of  Russian peacekeepers are supported both in Baku and Yerevan, which is  of key importance in the context of the uncertainty of the final  status of the territory.

Of the international and foreign organizations, only the  International Committee of the Red Cross is still working in  Nagorno-Karabakh. UN humanitarian agencies have not received  permission from Azerbaijanis and Armenians to access the enclave,  even for a primary needs assessment mission," the diplomat recalled.

At the same time, he said that difficulties arise due to the  political reason for the inability to maintain an equidistant  position with the parties, including the modalities of entry and exit  to the region, reporting, control and the legal basis for building  humanitarian activities.

"In these conditions, there is no progress in establishing even  international humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, the  practical implementation of the idea of sending an international  peacekeeping contingent, which, moreover, will require the sanction  of the UN Security Council, is hardly realistic.

Moreover, as practice shows, peacekeeping missions deployed under a  UN Security Council mandate do not always enjoy the trust of the host  states. In some cases, the latter are in favor of withdrawing the  Blue Helmets because of their low efficiency. Therefore, the question  is not so much about who authorized the peacekeeping operation, but  about the presence of good will on both sides of the conflict in its  termination and elimination of its consequences," the Russian  diplomat said.