MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) plans to send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to draw up a list of cultural sites to be restored and specially preserved, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"I talked to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay today, and she issued a statement in which she announced her intention to send a special UNESCO mission to the conflict zone to assess the situation and the scope of tasks on the ground to restore and protect historical monuments and places of worship and to provide assistance in the field of education," Lavrov said during a conference concerning the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, hosted by President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
UNESCO said earlier it intended to help preserve cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and post a special mission there to this end. "The Director-General formally proposed the technical support of UNESCO, who have been unable to visit these zones to date [...], and who could, with the agreement of all concerned parties, carry out a preliminary field mission, in order to draw up an inventory of the most significant cultural assets," UNESCO said.
Audrey Azoulay made her proposal after meeting with representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan. She "welcomed the agreement on a total ceasefire and cessation of hostilities in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone."
To provide the necessary conditions for the mission's work in Nagorno-Karabakh, UNESCO plans to "work with all interested partners to create the conditions for such a mission. High-level consultations have begun with the States co-chairing the Minsk Group," it said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday evening that Lavrov, who chairs the Russian commission for UNESCO, had a telephone call with Azoulay.
"The parties discussed relevant aspects of cooperation between Russia and UNESCO. Special significance was attached to opportunities for employing UNESCO's capability to provide assistance in settling the humanitarian situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, particularly as regards protecting and guarding cultural monuments and religious sites that suffered from the fighting and acts of vandalism, as well as rebuilding the educational system in the region. The Russian side praised Azoulay's initiative to send a provisional mission to the region to study practical opportunities of work in the above-mentioned areas in coordination with the parties concerned," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.