By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) -A peace push backed by U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Azerbaijan and Armenia just one step from a final peace deal and is a paradigm shift in the strategically important South Caucasus region, a top Azerbaijani diplomat said on Saturday.

Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on Friday and witnessed their signing of a joint declaration aimed at drawing a line under their decades-long on-off conflict.

Russia, a traditional broker and ally of Armenia in the strategically important South Caucasus region which is crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines, was not included despite its border guards being stationed on the border between Armenia and Iran.

While Moscow said it supported the summit, it proposed "implementing solutions developed by the countries of the region themselves with the support of their immediate neighbours – Russia, Iran and Turkey" to avoid what it called the "sad experience" of Western efforts to mediate in the Middle East.

Azerbaijan's close ally, NATO member Turkey, welcomed the accord.........

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