OSCE MG Co-chairs to hold talks on Karabakh in Moscow

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh will hold consultations in Moscow on September 8, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 31.

"The meeting will be attended by Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (USA), Pierre Andrieu (France) and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office’s Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk. They plan to meet with the Foreign Ministry leadership," the diplomat said, according to TASS.

Zakharova mentioned that they will discuss important issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Two decades of talks mediated by the OSCE MG group have failed to produce a breakthrough, and the renewed hostilities in April 2016, the worst since the ceasefire deal signed in 1994, were assessed as the result of inactivity of the international community.

 “Special attention is planned to be focused on the progress of the implementation of the agreements made at the summits on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement in Vienna on May 16 and St. Petersburg on June 20," she said, adding that prospects for further joint work will also be considered.

Zakharova stressed that it will be regular consultations the main goal of which is "to coordinate the efforts of the three countries in the sphere of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement."

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan twice since the April escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, first in Vienna in May, and the second time in St. Petersburg in June along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Nagorno-Karabakh talks held in St. Petersburg between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents and mediated by the Russian president were deemed “useful” and “important” by observers, while Baku called it “constructive.”