On the eve of the OSCE summit in Astana Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov describes the diplomatic negotiations about the regulation of the Karabakh conflict.
«Russia is facilitating the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as in its national capacity, given our good neighbourly relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is personally involved in this issue. He has already held seven or eight meetings with the Azeri and Armenian presidents, in the course of which there were serious attempts to get to the bottom of still existing divergences, and get past differences of position. His aim is to develop the first collective all-encompassing document titled “Key Principles of Resolution”, which will set the main guidelines for working out a legally binding final peace agreement. Agreement has been reached on the vast majority of principles that could lay the foundation for the resolution. However, there are still some serious problems», said Sergei Lavrov in his interview to “Golos Rossii”.
“We work in close contact with the Americans and the French as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Ahead of the Astana summit, they met with the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan. They are tasked with preparing a declaration in time for the Astana summit, which Baku, Yerevan and the co-chairs can sign. We hope that it will be possible”, added the Foreign Minister.
