RIA Novosti, Russia
Aug 24 2005

Russia expects progress at Moscow talks on Nagorny Karabakh

MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow expects that the talks it is
hosting on the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, a disputed area of
Azerbaijan dominated by ethnic Armenians, will yield results, Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We are happy that Moscow is hosting another meeting for the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers that is being attended by the
co-chairmen of the Minsk OSCE group,” Lavrov said. “We expect the
meeting to achieve progress.”

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov thanked the Russian
side for organizing the meeting. He said that he would discuss the
upcoming meeting in Kazan between Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan with the Armenian foreign
minister.

“I hope we will find a common language,” he said.

Kocharyan and Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev will meet on the
sidelines of the CIS summit in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s
Republic of Tartarstan, on August 26-27.