Russian, Armenian top diplomats to discuss Nagorno Karabakh settlement

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. The foreign ministers of Russia and Armenia will meet in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss topical issues of bilateral ties and international agenda, also focusing on settlement in the mostly Armenian populated Azerbaijan’s breakaway enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. Russia plays an active mediatory role in settlement efforts as co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group that attempts to broker an end to the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian and Armenian diplomats, Sergey Lavrov and Edvard Nalbandyan, will discuss cooperation within the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation among others. "Moscow and Yerevan have established productive cooperation on main global and regional issues," the Russian Foreign Ministry says. "Owing to a smoothly running mechanism of foreign ministerial consultations, they ‘synchronize watches’ on key issues of international policy, including European security," it added. The two countries also boost cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, it said. With joining in January the Eurasian Economic Union (of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus), Yerevan has become a full participant in Eurasian integration processes," the ministry said. Neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan fell out with each other in the late 1980s because of Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up but was mainly populated by Armenians. In 1991-1994, the confrontation spilled over into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and some adjacent territories. Thousands left their homes on both sides in a conflict that killed 30,000. A truce was called between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh republic on one side and Azerbaijan on the other in May 1994. Read more