Russia, Moscow, 28 March / Trend corr. R.Agayev / The Russian Foreign Ministry considers there is no need to change the current composition of OSCE Minsk Group on regulation the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. "The current composition of OSCE Minsk Group and co-chairs justify itself," Mikhail Kamynin, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, stated to Trend on 28 March.
Official Baku appeal to OSCE Secretariat in Vienna to dismiss the Minsk Group composition. According to the media, the reason for appeal became dissatisfaction of the Azerbaijani Government connected with OSCE member-countries including Russia, France and the United States voted against the Resolution on Situation in Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan adopted during the session of UN General Assembly on 14 March.
"The current composition of Minsk Group allows constructively work within the framework of the structure. Furthermore, the recent events showed that the current composition of Minsk Group may result concrete and efficient results for solution of existing problems," Kamynin said not detailing what he meant by the recent events precisely.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
In May 1994, the sides reached a ceasefire agreement and fruitless peace negotiations have been held by OSCE Minsk Group through co-chairmanship of Russia, France and United States so far.
The Resolution, supported by UN 39 countries, urges the member-countries to respect and support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs consider the Resolution danger for peace negotiations directed to solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Josef Pennington, temporary US Charge dAffaires in Armenia, stated that Washington stands for continuous of peace process on regulation of Karabakh conflict within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group, Mediamax reported. "We consider that OSCE Minsk Group has the composition which will lead to peace settlement of the issue," he stated.