Russia consistently works towards a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, but a final decision is up to the parties to the conflict, a spokesperson for the Russian President said Friday, March 11, local media report.

According to Dmitry Peskov, neither the mediators, nor Russia can resolve the conflict for Armenia or Azerbaijan.

“This is not a one-time effort but a string of successive steps within an international format,” he noted. “In this context, only parties to the conflict can make specific decisions and launch initiatives.”