Baku, Azerbaijan, July 6
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Russia keeps the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under special control and does everything to return the parties of the conflict to the settlement process in case of escalation of the situation, Spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing July 6.
She added that it is not yet known whether Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers at the OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting July 11 in Austria’s Mauerbach town.
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.