Lavrov: military solution to Karabakh conflict doesn't exist

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict doesn't exist.

"Our stance was explained by the president, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry. The Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and I have contacted our counterparts. We expressed the most serious concern and confirmed the president’s message that it is essential to terminate violations of the ceasefire regimen as soon as possible, without delay, and to avoid creating hindrances to the resumption of efforts to make a transition to a peace settlement," Lavrov noted, expressing hope that these messages would be heard.

"At least the sides have declared that the necessary orders have been issued. We are keeping in touch with Baku and Yerevan to ensure the signals from Moscow, Washington and Paris should be heard at last," the minister said.

He noted attempts to frustrate efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on Nagorno-Karabakh. "We should focus on the role of the co-chairs as a major mechanism to be rendered all-round support," he said.

He drew a parallel with the Syrian settlement involving the International Syria Support Group. "The Group is credited for agreeing on the principles of the speediest resolution of ceasefire problems, settlement of humanitarian issues, a launch of the political process. But the concrete implementation of these principles is a job for the task forces co-chaired by Russia and the United States, rather than for all these more than twenty countries or the United Nations Security Council," the minister explained.

"It would be right to use this logic and not to frustrate the role of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, not to seek to erode this role and the results that the co-chairs have achieved in their contacts with the parties in the past ten years," he said. "Any ideas to move these efforts beyond the Russian-US-French co-chairmanship will probably be used by those seeking, if not to frustrate the process, to seriously hamper it. And I am sure there are such sides," TASS cited him as saying.

Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.