No Turkish peacekeepers to be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh — Lavrov - TASS

No Turkish peacekeeping missions will be dispatched to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian and foreign media in an interview concerning crucial issues on the international agenda.

"No peacekeeping units of the Turkish Republic will be dispatched to Nagorno-Karabakh. There is a clear provision on that score in the joint statement of the leaders [of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on complete termination of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh]," he said.

The activity of Turkish observers will be restricted to the premises of the Russian-Turkish ceasefire control center being created in Azerbaijan, Sergey Lavrov said.

"The mobility of Turkish monitors will be restricted by the coordinates to be set for the location and deployment of the joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center in the territory of Azerbaijan, that part of it which is not close to Karabakh and is to be agreed on separately."

Lavrov said he had seen statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to the effect Turkish peacekeepers would be operating on the same grounds as their Russian counterparts.

"This concerns the center that will be stationary and will operate without sending out any missions. It is true that at this center proper Russian and Turkish specialists will be working on the parity basis," he said.

The Russian foreign minister stressed that Russian and Turkish defense ministers signed a memorandum on Wednesday.

"The center will be operating in a remote mode, using technical means of monitoring, such as drones, which will allow for keeping an eye on the situation on the ground in Karabakh and determining which side observes the ceasefire and which violates it," he stated.

Lavrov warned that many critics, including those in Russia, were trying to present the agreements achieved by the three leaders in a distorted fashion. "I feel surprised as I read some comments by armchair critics in this country and in other countries around the world. One should be guided by what is written on paper and what is a result of intensive negotiations that had been conducted for a week before the ceasefire," Lavrov concluded.