Baku, Azerbaijan, July 2
Trend:
Russian and German Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Frank-Walter Steinmeier talked over phone and discussed the prospects for advancing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, as well as the work in the Normandy format for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, said the Russian foreign ministry, RIA Novosti reported July 2.
"The ministers discussed some aspects of the Russian-German agenda and exchanged views on key international problems,” the document said. “Special attention was paid to the work in the Normandy format for the implementation of the Minsk agreements on the ways of overcoming the Ukrainian crisis.”
“Special attention was also paid to the prospects for advancing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement taking into account the outcome of the visit of the German minister as the OSCE chairman to Yerevan and Baku," the document said.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.