US AND RUSSIAN MEDIATORS IN KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS TO RESIGN

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8/14/09

After spending years mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
the secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, both US and Russian point
men in the Caucasus are calling it a day.

This week, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Eurasian
Affairs Matthew Bryza said he would step down from his State
Department position and quit his job as co-chair of the Minsk Group,
the OSCE mechanism tasked with advancing a peaceful resolution to
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijani and Russian media reported on August 14 that Bryza’s
Russian counterpart Yuriy Merzlyakov, the longest-standing Minsk Group
co-chair, is also set to leave his post. The group’s third co-chair
is French career diplomat Bernard Fassier.

Azerbaijan’s Zerkalo newspaper suggested on August 13 that former
US Ambassador to Kosovo Tina Kaidanow, who has already been named as
Bryza’s replacement at the State Department, is likely to become the
group’s new US co-chair.

Meanwhile, citing Russian Embassy sources, several Azerbaijani news
outlets suggested on August 14 that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Grigoriy Karasin is slated to replace Merzlyakov. The Russian Foreign
Ministry has not confirmed the appointment.