Peacekeepers may be deployed in Karabakh only after political settlement – diplomat

A peacekeeping mission in the area of the Karabakh conflict may be possible only after a political settlement is achieved there, Russia’s Ambassador to OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday, TASS reports.

“The measures of supporting trust between the parties in the region of the Karabakh conflict is a key task after the ceasefire regime comes into force,” he said.

Speaking about a peacekeeping element in the conflict area, he said the “conflict in Nagorno Karabakh is an exclusive responsibility of OSCE, and all other organisations may only favour efforts of that organization.”

“The ideas of a peacekeeping mission, which may be possible only after a political settlement for supporting peace in the region, have been outlined a certain time ago,” he said. “A group of military planning, which unites experts, has put together parameters for a possible peacekeeping mission.”

“What it will be like, in what formats – as yet those are only areas on the maps, where experts show how the peacekeeping mission’s shape could look like,” the Russian diplomat said. “If it comes to that, it would be historic experience for OSCE. However, this all is in theory now.”

He said it would be more important now to enforce the monitoring teams in the area to fix how ceasefire is observed along the line of engagement.