Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr A. Ismayilova / The next meeting of the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the United States) on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be held in Moscow on 2 August, according to the US State Department. The details of the talks are being kept confidential.
The latest meeting of the Co-Chairmen was held in Vienna on 13 July. The declaration adopted after the meeting regarded the false presidential elections of 19 July in Nagorno-Karabakh as the reason for an increase in tension in the region. The Co-Chairmen called on both sides to achieve real progress in the negotiations within the next months.
The conflict between the two South-Caucasus countries broke out in 1988 in light of Armenia's territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Some 20% of Azerbaijani territories (Nagorno-Karabakh and seven nearby regions) have been under the occupation of the Armenian Armed Forces since 1992. In May 1994 a ceasefire was signed between the two sides. The peace talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk group presided over by Russia, France, and United States are still underway.