United States, Washington, June 26 / Trend , N.Bogdanova / It is possible to accelerate the process of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, working with the conflicting sides not only during official meetings, but also apart from them, said former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia David Kramer.
"Summits and meetings are only discussions. The solution of the problem is to work with the sides outside these meetings," said Kramer in an interview with Trend .
In recent period, revival was noticed in the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group notice a significant breakthrough in the negotiations.
The meeting in St. Petersburg was the fifth meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and Armenia, Serj Sargsyan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
The previous meeting was held in Prague on May 7. Before it, the Presidents met in Zurich on 28 January, in Moscow in late November last year, as well as in St. Petersburg in June last year.
The United States have been and are actively involved in ensuring regional security, including in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Kramer. However, he noted that not everything depends only on America.
"[In the negotiations process on Nagorno-Karabakh] there is basic notion on the basic principles, and I would not say that everything in the question of these concepts depends on any third party rather than the conflicting sides," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Kramer found it difficult to forecast the upcoming Moscow meeting of the Presidents of the United States, Barack Obama and Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, which is scheduled for July 6-8, at which the Presidents are going to discuss regional and global issues, including unresolved conflicts in the Caucasus.
According to Kramer, there is progress on the issue of regional security in this area, but the issues still remain on the agenda.
Considering the differences between Russia and the United States in the Caucasus region, Kramer said that it needs to be careful, despite the path of new U.S. Administration for rapprochement with Russia.
"In such talks, Washington must be very careful - [previous U.S. President George] Bush has often met with Russian leaders, but it does not mean that the sides understood each other," said Kramer.
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