Lavrov Discusses Karabakh Conflict with Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia

Moscow / 15.04.19 / Turan: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding a meeting with his Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Moscow on April 15. The parties discuss the prospects of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, TASS reports.

Closed consultations will be held in the light of the results of the talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Vienna on March 29.

Later, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov (Russia), Stefan Visconti (France) and Andrew Chaufer (USA) will join the Ministers.

The main outcome of the Vienna Round was the willingness of the parties to continue a direct dialogue on a peaceful settlement. As the Minsk Group Co-Chairs then noted, the leaders stressed the importance of creating an environment conducive to peace and taking further concrete and tangible steps in the negotiation process to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

In addition, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed on humanitarian measures to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reaffirmed the need for a cease-fire and improvement of the direct communication mechanism.

The results of the Vienna meeting were discussed by Aliyev and Pashinyan in their phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As reported in the Kremlin on April 2, Putin stressed the importance of the negotiation process between Baku and Yerevan, and expressed willingness on the part of Moscow to further assist in finding ways for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, in particular, in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. -02D-