Nagorno-Karabakh issue closed - Russian diplomat 

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan's Karabakh issue is closed, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail  Evdokimov said in an interview with The Izvestia. 

"Azerbaijan's Karabakh issue is closed. All these years, Russia has  made efforts to resolve the Karabakh problem peacefully.  Unfortunately, it did not work out: the issue was closed in  September. Russia always plays a very important role in the  settlement. Russia is ready to provide maximum support in  negotiations for a peace treaty between the two sides.

Now Armenia and Azerbaijan are directly exchanging draft peace  treaties. What the Azerbaijani side is offering is, in my opinion,  absolutely justified, standard formulations and articles that, as a  rule, exist in peace treaties between the parties. And, in principle,  based on the proposals that Baku makes, it seems to me that these  negotiations can be completed fairly quickly. We are ready to provide  a Moscow platform, we are ready, if necessary, to provide our  expertise, our advice on the text. Here we have very good interaction  with our Azerbaijani colleagues," the diplomat said.

Mikhail Evdokimov also noted that Russia and Azerbaijan are agreeing  on the dates for the next round of negotiations on the Russian  peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh.

"Currently, the dates of the next round of negotiations between  Moscow and Baku on our peacekeeping contingent are being agreed upon  with the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry; its terms of stay expire in  2025," the ambassador said.

As to whether an agreement will be signed this year, Evdokimov  assured that Azerbaijan is committed to a very quick completion of  negotiations on the signing of a peace treaty.

"But, as we know, in order to complete negotiations, both sides must  have such a desire," he said.

Touching upon the issue of a "transport corridor" from the main part  of Azerbaijan to its exclave, Nakhijevan Evdokimov noted the  importance of this topic for Azerbaijan.

According to him, this is the presence of a stable transport route,  transport routes between the main territory of Azerbaijan and  Nakhijevan.

"During the first Karabakh war, all communications were interrupted,  the supply of electricity to Nakhijevan was cut off. Therefore, for  Azerbaijan, the safety of the route (it is approximately 46 km) is  not an abstract topic.

There are also tunnels along this route, and, in my opinion, there is  also a bridge. The Russian Federation was ready to restore this route  quickly enough at its own expense. For various reasons that are not  very clear to me, the Armenian side is delaying the negotiations,"  the Russian diplomat said. 

He added that, as a result, last year Baku and Tehran signed an  agreement on the construction of a railway through Iranian territory.

"There is a little more there - 60 km or something, the route is more  complex, but this work is already underway. All these years, freight  road transport between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan went through the  territory of Iran.

Plus this is the route to Turkey. Now the main thing is to build  railways from Turkey to Nakhichevan; a double-track line is planned -  European and Soviet. Accordingly, we will be able to transport goods  to Turkey from Russia through Azerbaijan, Iran and Nakhichevan,"  Evdokimov said.