Moscow calls on Baku and Yerevan to resume talks on Nagorno-Krabakh - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Moscow calls on Baku and Yerevan to demonstrate restraint and resume talks on settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday. Commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Armenia on April 22, Zakharova said Nagorno-Karabakh will be high on the agenda. "The sides should demonstrate restraint, facilitate stability, and it is necessary to resume negotiations process for long-term settlement," she added. "As a mediator and co-chair of the Minsk Group of OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), we are ready to assist the sides in implementing this idea," the diplomat noted. 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