BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 12. Azerbaijan’s
Karabakh issue is closed, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail
Evdokimov said in an interview with Izvestia, Trend reports.

“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.