Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev told Sputnik on Saturday that although he welcomed the Moscow-mediated humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed breakaway Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, real negotiations between Yerevan and Baku must follow in spite of all the hurdles
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2020) Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev told Sputnik on Saturday that although he welcomed the Moscow-mediated humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed breakaway Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, real negotiations between Yerevan and Baku must follow in spite of all the hurdles.
Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1991. He was the first-ever and the last president of the USSR in 1990-1991, the years Armenia and Azerbaijan first engaged in a conflict over the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh after it proclaimed independence from what was the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.
"I support the decision [taken to cease hostilities]. But it is very important that the matter does not end with an armistice, which is why the commitment of the two countries to negotiate the settlement of the conflict is so important. These will be very difficult negotiations. The issue is complicated and old. But it cannot be left unresolved for years, decades. This first step must be followed by real negotiations," Gorbachev said.
The former Soviet leader noted that Russia played an active role in achieving the recent ceasefire.
On Friday night, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to cease hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh starting noon (08:00 GMT) following 10-hour talks in the Russian capital of Moscow. The ceasefire is intended to allow both sides to exchange captured individuals and bodies of those deceased. However, the parties soon accused each other of violating the truce.
The large-scale hostilities in the Armenian-majority breakaway region erupted on September 27 when both parties accused each other of violating the 1994 ceasefire
