There are opportunities for achieving progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Apr.22.
He made the remarks on the air of “Sputnik”, “Echo of Moscow” and "This is Moscow speaking" radio stations.
Russia has done and is doing more than anyone else to find a solution for this very complicated, but solvable crisis, Lavrov said.
He said Russia continues working with the US, France and OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“We regularly communicate with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers and our president also continues discussing this issue during the talks with Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders.”
“There are opportunities to find a commonly acceptable basis for moving forward and we believe that the upcoming talks, including those in Yerevan (during the upcoming visit of President Vladimir Putin to Armenia), will allow to speed up this process,” said Lavrov.
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, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by SI
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