We work closely with Azerbaijan and Armenia on all aspects of the Karabakh [(Artsakh)] issue. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told this to Izvestia when asked how long it will take to determine the status of Karabakh.

"Today, the ceasefire is maintained by the Russian peacekeeping contingent which is stationed along the line of contact [between the parties] and in the Lachin corridor. The presence of our peacekeepers in the region is a factor in providing the necessary conditions for the settlement of the situation—not only in Karabakh, but also in the relations between Baku and Yerevan, in general.

At the same time, I would like to emphasize that at the January 11 Moscow summit, the leaders of both Azerbaijan and Armenia reaffirmed their readiness to move in this direction. A task force, chaired by the deputy prime ministers of the three countries, has been set up for this purpose. The main task of the group is the de-blockage of transport and economic routes. (…). At the same time, we [Russia] view the prospects for economic recovery in the broader context of the South Caucasus.

We proceed from the fact that peace and stability are in the interests of all partners in the region—including Georgia, Iran, and Turkey. We hope for their assistance in the goal of Baku and Yerevan to normalize relations along the lines of the arrangements on the results of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 and the Moscow summit of January 11, 2021.

We expect that joint efforts in this direction will help create a favorable environment in the future for the development of non-conflict approaches to the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group," added the Russian deputy FM.