Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Russia will continue collective work on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference in Vienna on Dec. 8.
"In each conflict, it is necessary to understand what is priority," he said. “But it is also necessary to rely on certain common approaches. Among these approaches, first of all, is a direct dialogue between the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately, significant progress has not been observed yet. However, there is a positive moment - this year's dialogue was at the level of presidents and at the level of foreign ministers.”
Lavrov added that Russia will continue collective work with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"The collective approach contains the solution principles that the sides have accepted, but have not implemented yet,” the minister said.
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.