Azerbaijan, Baku, July 11 / Trend E.Tariverdiyeva /
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has today received the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States, and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk in accordance with the previously reached agreement, the Foreign Ministry reported.
During the consultations, the sides discussed issues of further coordination of the co-chair countries' activities given the outcome of the trilateral meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict held in Kazan on June 24, as well as the subsequent efforts by Russia, the U.S. and France as mediators in the talks.
President Medvedev has prepared a message to Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, following discussions held in Kazan. The message includes proposals on the visions of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution that was recently discussed at the meeting of the three presidents with representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan discussed the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in Kazan on June 24. The meeting - ninth in the last three years - ended without reaching agreement on the basic principles of settlement. A joint statement issued after the meeting noted the progress towards this goal.
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 7 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 the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.