Russia to analyze Nagorno-Karabakh crisis with US, France - Lavrov

YEREVAN, November 21. /TASS/. Moscow will analyze the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement together with Washington and Paris, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the joint news conference with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian on Tuesday. "The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan held meetings with the three co-chairs in the Russian capital just recently," he said. "We will now analyze together with our American and French counterparts where we are and will try to make vigorous efforts to create conditions for achieving a settlement." The Russian minister recalled that there are all necessary conditions for the settlement. "I pointed to the availability of all components for resolving this issue at a news conference in Baku," he said referring to his speech following talks with Azerbaijan’s top diplomat Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku on Monday. "The components are part of many documents, which have been forwarded to the OSCE secretary general since 2007, 2009 and 2011. They have thus been enshrined as the co-chairs’ proposals, they remain on the table in their entirety." According to Russia’s top diplomat, the fact that the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have held a meeting in Geneva and spoke highly of it is very important. "I believe it is useful that the two presidents (of Azerbaijan and Armenia) spoke about their results of their contact held in Geneva just recently in a positive light," Lavrov said. Lavrov noted that negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue are unlikely to end quickly. "I would not be overoptimistic," he noted. "The problem is difficult, all the experience of our negotiations shows that they will not end quickly, unfortunately." Read more