Experts mark Russia's crucial role in settling Karabakh conflict

On November 2, Moscow hosted a roundtable dedicated to role of Russia in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenian, Azerbaijani, Russian and European experts took part in the event - ten analysts in total.

Moderator of the roundtable was Maksim Shevchenko, a member of Public Chamber and Channel One journalist. "For a long time Russia took a stand of self-isolation in foreign political actions in the post-Soviet space," said Mr Shevchenko. "However, in recent years on the initiative of the European Union and Russia, a negotiation platform was established for the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The process has moved off the dead point."

"I don't agree that in 1990s Russia was in isolation. The ceasefire decision was made due to Russia. The format of the OSCE Minsk Group was built due to the efforts of the Russian party," said political scientist Sergey Markedonov in his turn.

At the end of the meeting, a small conflict burst out. Ruben Zargaryan, adviser of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), said that the Karabakh negotiating process is in a deadlock. His speech was practically at once interrupted by the words that "everyone knows the NKR's opinion"; then Mr Zargaryan fell silent.