Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Contacts with the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will continue, regardless of the schedule of meetings of the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers at the Munich Security Conference, to be held on Feb. 17-19, said the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
She made the remarks at a briefing on Feb. 9, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
Russia is currently negotiating a possible schedule of meetings in Munich, including the meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, according to her.
It will be announced later whether the meetings will be held, Zakharova said.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has earlier said Moscow was trying to arrange a meeting of the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian foreign ministers and Baku gave its consent to this meeting.
He added that it was planned to hold a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs as part of the Munich Security Conference.
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.