ID :
403023
Thu, 04/07/2016 - 12:21
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Russia calls to work out confidence-building measures on Nagorno-Karabakh - Lavrov

BAKU, April 6. /TASS/. Russia will contribute to observation of the ceasefire on Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. "The process of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement that we have been engaged in and are engaged as a country close to Armenia and Azerbaijan, and as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, has faced a challenge," Lavrov said. "Resumption of hostilities has been the most large-scale for the past years," he said. "At the level of the president, premier, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry, the General Staff, we took all required measures to help the sides reach an agreement on cessation of fire," Lavrov said. "We will be ready to contribute, for the agreements not to be violated, it is important to calm the situation and we will more actively engage in political settlement," he said. "We hope to discuss all those issues today and tomorrow," the minister said. "We fully support he initiatives being taken now." The situation along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2, and fierce clashes began. The parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce. The defense ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan reported that hostilities stopped in Nagorno-Karabakh from 11:00 a.m. Moscow Time April 5. Talks on Nagorno-Karabakh have been held on the basis of the so-called Madrid Principles suggested by co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - Russia, France and the United States - in December 2007 in the Spanish capital. They include three key principles written in the Helsinki Final Act: refraining from the threat or use of force, territorial integrity and the right to self-determination. Nagorno-Karabakh sought independence from Azerbaijan at the end of the 1980s, which resulted in a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia that claimed the lives of 25,000-30,000 people between 1988 and 1994. Since then, the territory has been controlled by Armenia. The OSCE Minsk Group acts as a mediator. It is a mechanism designed to promote a peace solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The group is led by co-chairs France, Russia and the United States. It also comprises Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Read more

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