Moscow lauds readiness of Baku, Yerevan to step up talks on Karabakh conflict solution

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 26 Trend: Russia welcomes the readiness of Azerbaijan and Armenia to intensify the negotiation process on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement, Spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing Oct. 26. She was commenting on the results of the Geneva meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, TASS reported. "We welcome the readiness of the sides to intensify the negotiation process and take additional actions aimed at reducing tensions on the line of contact of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops," Zakharova said. "We support the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who are currently working on the issues related to holding another meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss the essential issues of the conflict settlement and possible measures to stabilize the situation." "We urge Baku and Yerevan to show a constructive approach to find solutions to unresolved issues," she added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Follow Trend on Telegram. Only most interesting and important news