MOSCOW–"Russia’s position is that this kind of tragic event–whoever is the initiator–once more proves the need for the speediest achievement of a firm and comprehensive settlement to the Karabakh problem though direct negotiations between the parties involved," director of the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Rakhmanin said in commen’s on the recent armed clashes in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
"As one of the OSCE Minsk Group’s cochairmen–Russia will act as an unbiased mediator that sincerely aspires to help Baku–Yerevan and Stepanakert to achieve a decisive breakthrough to genuine peace," added Rakhmanin.
Russia called on the parties to the conflict to show the maximum restraint in their public statemen’s.
"It is a pity that–inter alia–Azerbaijan has tried to use the incident on June 14 [clash in northern Karabakh–for which both parties have blamed the other] to boost a propaganda war–including empty fabrications about Russian policy in the Caucasus," Rakhmanin said.