CIS countries interested in Karabakh conflict resolution: Sergey Lebedev

CIS countries, and first of all the Russian Federation, are interested in the resolution of Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani news agency 1news.az quotes CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev as saying.

“We are step by step moving towards approximating the two countries’ positions. With the mediation of Russia, Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents recently met in Astrakhan to sign an agreement over the swap of dead bodies. This practically became the first step towards bringing the parties’ positions closer. We are in the meantime discussing the possibility of liberating the occupied lands and opening Nakhichevan-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Karabakh corridors,” Mr Lebedev said, adding that Russia considers both Armenia and Azerbaijan what he called its “brother states.”

“Both as a member of OSCE MG and a CIS partner, Russia will invest its best efforts in bringing its neighboring countries’ attitudes closer.”

Mr Lebedev arrived in Baku last week to monitor the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. The Russian diplomat’s official visit ends on November 9.