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.