Azerbaijan, Baku, July 8 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
During his working visit to Yerevan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov conveyed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's private message on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also attended the talks. It was stressed that the results of the meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Kazan on June 24 helped bring the agreement closer to a resolution, the report said.
It was also pointed out that the Russian, U.S., and French presidents, as leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, stood firmly to rapidly make a responsible decision, the report said.
Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia discussed the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in Kazan. The meeting, as the ninth in the last three years, ended without reaching an agreement on the basic principles of settlement. The sides mentioned their progress in a joint statement.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.