Russian Foreign Ministry: We do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state

Baku, February 17, AZERTAC Russia does not believe that peaceful settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh may depend on holding a constitutional referendum in the region disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday, according to TASS. "We do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state," the ministry’s information and press department said. "We consider that its status should be determined through political talks in the framework of the Minsk process." "We do not believe that peaceful settlement could depend on holding the above mentioned ‘constitutional referendum,’" the ministry said. On February 14, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry called the plans to hold the referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh a provocative step and a blatant violation of norms and principles of international law. Such a referendum cannot be legally binding, it said.