Tweet
RF TO CONTINUE MEDIATION TO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT - LAVROV
ITAR-TASS
January 18, 2012 Wednesday 04:29 PM GMT+4
Russia
Russia will continue mediation on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference on Wednesday.
The Russian minister said he would have talks with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov in Moscow on Thursday, January 19. The
talks will focus on the upcoming tripartite meeting between the
Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents due to take place in Sochi
on January 23. "The meeting will respond if Russia continues mediation
to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Of course, we do," Lavrov said.
"We are doing this within the OSCE Minsk Group being its co-chairman.
The Group's co-chairmen will deal with this in Sochi," the Russian
minister added.
Commenting on relations between Moscow and Baku, he stressed that they
"are of strategic nature. We value the potential that we achieved".
While in Moscow, "we will sign an agreement on diplomatic property".
According to the Russian minister, "it is necessary to calculate
all... Then we will close this problem."
Presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Dmitry Medvedev,
Ilkham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, will meet in Sochi on January
23. The meeting will be devoted to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
the Kremlin press service reported earlier.
Aliyev and Sargsyan will be in Russia on working visits at the
invitation of the Russian leader. "Separate bilateral meetings are
also expected to be held," the press service said.
In Deauville, Dmitry Medvedev, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama called
on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan "to show political will and
complete the work on the basic principle [of the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in June".
The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject
of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and
its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia.
In 1988, towards the end of Soviet rule, Azerbaijani troops and
Armenian secessionists began a bloody war, which left the de facto
independent state in the hands of ethnic Armenians when a truce was
signed in 1994.
Negotiations have so far failed to produce a permanent peace
agreement, and the dispute remains one of post-Soviet Europe's "frozen
conflicts." With the break-up of the Soviet Union, in late 1991,
Karabakh declared itself an independent republic, further escalating
the conflict into a full-scale war. That de facto status has not been
recognised elsewhere.
In a December 2006 referendum, declared illegitimate by Azerbaijan,
the region approved a new constitution. Nonetheless, there have since
been signs of life in the peace process, with occasional meetings
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents. Significant progress
was reported at talks between the leaders in May and November 2009,
but progress then stalled, and tension began rising again as of 2010.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Minsk Group is headed by Russia, France and
the United States.
An additional format had been created over the Karabakh settlement -
Russia plays a mediating role. The presidents of three countries met
in Astrakhan in October 2010.
They adopted a joint declaration after the meeting. "This is a special
declaration on the enhancement of confidence-building measures,"
Medvedev said, adding that the document envisioned "an exchange of
prisoners of war and the return of the bodies."
"Having confirmed the provisions of the joint Declaration signed in
Moscow on November 2, 2008, the presidents stressed that the resolution
of the conflict by political and diplomatic means requires further
efforts to strengthen the ceasefire and military confidence-building
measures," the joint statement said.
ITAR-TASS
January 18, 2012 Wednesday 04:29 PM GMT+4
Russia
Russia will continue mediation on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference on Wednesday.
The Russian minister said he would have talks with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov in Moscow on Thursday, January 19. The
talks will focus on the upcoming tripartite meeting between the
Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents due to take place in Sochi
on January 23. "The meeting will respond if Russia continues mediation
to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Of course, we do," Lavrov said.
"We are doing this within the OSCE Minsk Group being its co-chairman.
The Group's co-chairmen will deal with this in Sochi," the Russian
minister added.
Commenting on relations between Moscow and Baku, he stressed that they
"are of strategic nature. We value the potential that we achieved".
While in Moscow, "we will sign an agreement on diplomatic property".
According to the Russian minister, "it is necessary to calculate
all... Then we will close this problem."
Presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Dmitry Medvedev,
Ilkham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, will meet in Sochi on January
23. The meeting will be devoted to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
the Kremlin press service reported earlier.
Aliyev and Sargsyan will be in Russia on working visits at the
invitation of the Russian leader. "Separate bilateral meetings are
also expected to be held," the press service said.
In Deauville, Dmitry Medvedev, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama called
on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan "to show political will and
complete the work on the basic principle [of the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in June".
The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject
of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and
its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia.
In 1988, towards the end of Soviet rule, Azerbaijani troops and
Armenian secessionists began a bloody war, which left the de facto
independent state in the hands of ethnic Armenians when a truce was
signed in 1994.
Negotiations have so far failed to produce a permanent peace
agreement, and the dispute remains one of post-Soviet Europe's "frozen
conflicts." With the break-up of the Soviet Union, in late 1991,
Karabakh declared itself an independent republic, further escalating
the conflict into a full-scale war. That de facto status has not been
recognised elsewhere.
In a December 2006 referendum, declared illegitimate by Azerbaijan,
the region approved a new constitution. Nonetheless, there have since
been signs of life in the peace process, with occasional meetings
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents. Significant progress
was reported at talks between the leaders in May and November 2009,
but progress then stalled, and tension began rising again as of 2010.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Minsk Group is headed by Russia, France and
the United States.
An additional format had been created over the Karabakh settlement -
Russia plays a mediating role. The presidents of three countries met
in Astrakhan in October 2010.
They adopted a joint declaration after the meeting. "This is a special
declaration on the enhancement of confidence-building measures,"
Medvedev said, adding that the document envisioned "an exchange of
prisoners of war and the return of the bodies."
"Having confirmed the provisions of the joint Declaration signed in
Moscow on November 2, 2008, the presidents stressed that the resolution
of the conflict by political and diplomatic means requires further
efforts to strengthen the ceasefire and military confidence-building
measures," the joint statement said.