Russia considers Armenia-Turkey normalization important, but it does not intend to interfere in the process, Spokesman for Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich stated, RIA Novosti reports.

According to him, Armenia-Turkey rapprochement is primarily a matter of bilateral relations and Russia is not going to intervene into their ties. Russia hopes this process will yield good results in terms of bilateral relations and strengthening the spirit of cooperation, creation of cooperation mechanism in the Caucasus region, he said.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, on October 10, 2009, in Zurich, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Turkey signed the “Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations” and “Protocol for the development of bilateral relations”, which needed to be ratified by the parliaments of the two countries. However, it did not happen due to Ankara’s non-constructive position.

The signing ceremony was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and France Bernard Kouchner, as well as Secretary General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana. The signing ceremony was at the center of the world’s attention, broadcast on 70 TV channels.

However, on December 7, 2009, Turkey linked Armenian-Turkish reconciliation to settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. During his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan stated that Ankara would not ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols as long as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remained unsettled. On April 22, 2010, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree suspending the ratification process.