Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov while speaking at the 16th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club said that the political process on the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been slowed down.
He said: “The situation on the contact line has been quite calm lately and there are a few minor incidents. The bodies of the killed people were exchanged, an exchange of detainees is being prepared – in very small quantity, but nonetheless, some kind of process continues.”
Lavrov said: “The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement-Russia, France, the US- work closely, they met three times already this year, I think, with the foreign ministers, including in April in Moscow with my participation. Regarding the situation on the ground, I would say that it’s calmer now than a year ago, but the political process has slowed down.”
Russian Foreign Minister said: “We, as co-chairs, work together with the Americans and the French, thank God, this is probably one of the few situations where we have a completely unified vision,” he said. “We have basic documents – we don’t want to reconsider them, we want to seek a solution based on these principles that have been discussed many times. But the solution must, of course, be found through direct dialogue.”
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
