AZERI-ARMENIAN TALKS IN MOSCOW PRODUCTIVE – RUSSIAN MINISTER

Public Television of Armenia
Oct 6 2006

The meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan
is under way in Moscow. The agreement to hold the meeting between
Oskanyan and Mammadyarov was reached during the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs’ visit to the region.

Earlier, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy
Merzlyakov, said in Yerevan that another meeting between the foreign
ministers will probably be held within 10 days of today’s meeting.
The co-chairmen did not rule out that a meeting between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents will probably be discussed after the
discussions between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

The Russian foreign minister has highly rated the results of today’s
meeting in Moscow with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.
Lavrov said that the meeting was productive.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers also attended a
trilateral meeting at Smolensk Square [Russian Foreign Ministry].
According to a Russian diplomatic source, Moscow was not chosen
as the venue for the trilateral meeting by chance because Russia
has played an important and historical role in the South Caucasus,
especially in the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

[Video showed Lavrov speaking in Moscow]