Lavrov on Contacts between Communities, Mammadyarov on Phased Settlement in Karabakh

Baku / 03.12.19 / Turan: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov welcomed the resumption of contacts between the communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. He stated this at a press conference following the talks in Baku with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

“I am for contacts between the communities of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Lavrov said, commenting on the recent exchange of visits of journalists from Azerbaijan and Armenia.

According to Lavrov, Russia was one of the authors of this initiative. Any decision must be made by people who live on this earth, the Russian minister said. “I am for contacts between the communities, and I am pleased that they have resumed. As a result, all the same, the entire population of Karabakh will have to decide how to live,” Lavrov emphasized.

Russia, for its part, as co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, will help resolve the conflict. In his opinion, the parties are inclined to a compromise. He noted that Moscow expects results from the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Bratislava on December 4.

The issue of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a serious topic in the bilateral relations of Azerbaijan and Russia, Mammadyarov said in turn. At the same time, he acknowledged that the negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict "are at an impasse." “The current state of the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue does not lead anywhere,” Mammadyarov said.

He believes that the conflict should be resolved in stages. “First of all, of course, the army should return to the barracks, and not be in the field. Then we can already think about the return of refugees and the unblocking of economic opportunities and roads,” Mammadyarov said. —06D-