Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 November/ Trend , A. Gasimova/ Though co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group were invited to the meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian Presidents, they were not allowed to take part at the meeting to discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told Trend .
It contradicts ways of work of the OSCE Minsk Group, he said.
Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia Ilham Aliyev, Serj Sarkisyan and Dmitry Medvedev signed a declaration at the end of their meeting in Main Dorf castle near Moscow on 2 November.
During his visit to Armenia, the Russian President proposed Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents to meet in Moscow.
Kremlin says that the principal position of Russia on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is that Armenians and Azerbaijanis should make the final decision about the status of disputed territories. Moscow also supports the way of solution which suits both parties and can secure settlement.
"As France and U.S. did not take part in the elaboration of the declaration, this is not of a special significance," co-chairman said.
Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuriy Merzlyakov refused to comment on this issue.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh's seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful, but fruitless negotiations.
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