CIS member countries interested in settling conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh - CIS official

MINSK, April 19. /TASS/. Member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) support peaceful settlement of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and preventing resumption of military actions in the region, Chairman of CIS Executive Committee Sergey Lebedev told TASS on Tuesday. "All member countries of the Commonwealth are concerned about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Lebedev said. CIS wants tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh to subside, he added. "Two neighboring countries - Armenia and Azerbaijan - should reach a compromise to prevent resumption of military actions and launch peace dialogue on peaceful resolution of this problem that concerns all of us," Lebedev noted. The CIS top official said he hopes that "these provisions are taken into account and that collective efforts of CIS member countries and Minsk Group (of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) will lead to a positive resolution." "We sincerely hope for peace and prosperity in the South Caucasus," he concluded. On Saturday, April 2, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh rapidly deteriorated when the parties to the Karabakh conflict accused each other of violating truce along the front line. The claims came from defense authorities of Armenia and of Azerbaijan. On April 5 Azerbaijan’s Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Nadjmeddin Sadykov and his Armenian counterpart Col. Gen. Yury Khachaturov in Moscow with Russia’s mediation. At the talks the sides reached an agreement on cessation of hostilities at the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. On the same day, the defense ministries of the two countries announced that the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh would start at 12am local time. Read more