The decision on the Karabakh issue should be made by the conflicting parties, the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin told reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, Russia, being a strategic ally of Armenia and having close relations with Azerbaijan, plays a significant role in the mediation mission, including within the OSCE Minsk Group, where all actions are coordinated with other partners, but Moscow cannot take the position of any side.

“Russia advocates for the establishment of intensive talks. A manifestation of this, including the recent meeting of the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with his colleagues from Yerevan and Baku, as well as periodic visits of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the region,” the ambassador noted.

Sergey Kopyrkin recalled that Russia was in favor of a peaceful settlement of the conflict and always proceeded from not creating situations that would have provoked the desire to follow the path of escalation.