The Russians believe that Moscow can help in peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But at the same time, they take sides with neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan, standing for Karabakh’s independence.

1,6 thousand people from 130 settlements of 46 Russian regions took part in the recent survey carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (WCIOM), Izvestiya reports.

The sociologists asked Russians whether they have heard about the re-escalation of the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The issue turned out to have drawn the attention of about three quarter of Russians: 72 percent had heard about it. This index significantly exceeded that of the analogous period in 2014 (45 percent).

71 percent of Russians (against 57 percent in 2014) think that the peaceful settlement of the conflict is possible, 15 percent of them believing this will happen. Negative forecast is more often given by the residents of Moscow and Saint Petersburg (20 percent), as well as supporters of non-parliamentary parties (21 percent).

Currently, 44 percent of the respondents think that Russia should be a mediator in this conflict in order to prevent bloodshed. Two years ago this position was supported by about a quarter of the population (25 percent).