Russia ready to be guarantor of Nagorny Karabakh settlement

MOSCOW, 31 October (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to guarantee any agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia on a settlement for the Nagorny Karabakh dispute, a Kremlin source said on Friday.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders are due in Moscow on Sunday for talks mediated by President Dmitry Medvedev, who announced the peace effort while on a visit to Yerevan last Tuesday.

"Russia would be ready to back a settlement that satisfied all parties concerned, and if a compromise is reached, it can guarantee it," the source said.

The source also said that the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan scheduled for November 2 would be the second round of talks on the issue, with the previous one held on June 6 in St. Petersburg during a CIS informal summit.