Russia will help Baku and Yerevan reach mutually acceptable solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday after talks with his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mamedyarov.
“Naturally, we spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Russia will continue to help the sides reach mutually acceptable solutions both in its bilateral relations with Baku and Yerevan and in the formal of trilateral meetings between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, of course, in its capacity as Minsk Group Co-Chair,” he said.
“We believe the Karabakh conflict can be solved,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.
He said the opinion is reinforced by the “results of long-term contacts, as a result of which common ground has been reached on a number of key issues of conflict settlement – security, humanitarian issue, return of territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh, determination of the status of Nagorno Karabakh (with the opinion living there taken into consideration), defining the parameters of international peacekeeping forces, etc.”
Lavrov said there is understanding on a number of asepcts of final settlement and added that “two or three key issues are still being discussed. “We are far from the point where we can see the parties develop a common approach towards the remaining issues,” he said.
The Russian Foreign Minister underlined that “before we can resume substantial talks it’s important to deescalate the situation on the line of contact and the public environment.”
He stressed the importance of confidence-building measures, including the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg and the proposals worked out within the framework of the OSCE.