SERGEY LAVROV ON KARABAKH: ESTABLISHING FORECASTS UNGRATEFUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.12.2006 16:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2006 significant progress was achieved in the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow December 20.

"Establishing forecasts is ungrateful. Russia is the Co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group jointly with the U.S. and France, and the task of the
Co-chairs is to assist the conflicting sides to reach an agreement,"
he said.

According to him, the direct contacts between the Azerbaijani
and Armenian Presidents, as well as Foreign Ministers, assume key
importance. He said that the mediators assist in organizing these
contacts, listen to what the leaders say, and prepare for the next
negotiations, by devising proposals, which help the leaders to
move ahead.

Highlighting the progress in the negotiation process this year,
Lavrov said that there is an understanding that the Co-chairs play
their role in the contacts between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia. He refrained from establishing forecasts regarding the date
of the agreement, noting that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia
have a wish to find a way out from this complicated crisis. He said
that OSCE Minsk Group supports all principles of the international
law, but the main fact is to create maximal available conditions for
the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia with regards to the stages and
dates of the future negotiations.