Karabakh Declaration

The Karabakh summit hosted by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has resulted in a joint declaration by the Armenian and Azeri presidents that they will work to resolve the dispute peacefully. RFE-RL sees this as a type of breakthrough, as the two countries have not issued such a statement in the 15 years since the war which tore Karabakh from Azerbaijan came to an end. While Russia does have pull that the Minsk Group as such does not, however, one should not overlook that both countries' presidential elections, which were seen as an impediment to progress, are now over.