MOSCOW—Russian Foreign Minister Sergay Lavrov called for a “step-by-step approach” to resolving the Karabakh conflict and added that additional measures were needed to keep the situation on the line of contact (the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border) calm.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday ahead of a scheduled meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenai and Azerbaijan on Thursday, Lavrov said that the conflict “cannot be resolved once and for all with a single document.”

“We need a step-by-step approach that will reflect the agreement on the avenues of working on issues that require additional discussion with a view of reaching a final resolution, including the status of Nagorno Karabakh,” Lavrov said.

He added that diplomats have been working intensively and regularly to resolve the conflict.

“I think it’s important to take additional measures to make the situation on the line of contact calmer. This would help move towards a political settlement,” Lavrov told the press conference.
“Russia cannot have concrete plans regarding the resolution of the conflict, as it is up to the parties to solve the issue,” he said.

According to the Minister, “Russia, along with other participants of the process, creates conditions for such a resolution, comparing the parties’ positions in search for coinciding approaches and in an attempt to “suggest the compromises that can help the parties reach a common ground on issues they have been divergent on so far.”

“We hope to see such positive impulses coming from both countries [Armenia and Azerbaijan],” Sergey Lavrov stated.