Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan believes that any parallels between the situations in Crimea and Karabakh are irrelevant, Azeri media outlets report.
According to him, the recent developments in Crimea are a unique case related to the situation inside Ukraine. Crimea considered the developments in Kyiv to be a take-over and refused to recognize the legitimacy of new leadership. "Crimea's parliament took a decision on independence. In a referendum vote, the majority of the population favored annexation to Russia", he said. Thus, the mistake committed in 1954 by annexing historic Russian lands to another state has been corrected, Dorokhin added.
He said that Russia "recognizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in the framework of international documents." "Karabakh is a separate problem that needs to be resolved and we are actively involved in the process," he noted.
When commenting on the OSCE Minsk Group's activity, the Ambassador said that the suggestions on the tension between Russia and the West within this organization are not justified. "Probably, the diplomats would feel more comfortable if the situation were more stable. The MG, however, continues its mission.
There is no threat of collapse", he said. He added that there are different opinions about the effectiveness of the Minsk Group's work, but at present it's the only format for the Karabakh conflict settlement. "We have repeatedly stressed our commitment to the OSCE MG and taken every effort to promote the solution to the conflict", he said.