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Russia, as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, carries out its mediation mission in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict settlement process in good faith, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

Her comments came in response to the question on how the Russian side views the bellicose statement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev three days after the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs’ agreement on preparing populations for peace, how it is possible against the backdrop of such statements, and whether without Artsakh’s direct participation in negotiations it is possible to achieve progress in the conflict settlement process.

“Our stance on the issue remains unchanged. I think the first part of your question shouldn’t most certainly be addressed to the Russian side. We carry out our mediation mission in good faith and, I think, in a high quality. We welcome the recent political contacts between Yerevan and Baku at various levels. We heard the constructive assessments that the capital cities gave on the issue and we believe that this is the right way to move forward," she said.