Russia, EU discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Herbert Salber discussed the situation in the region in Moscow on February 5.

In particular, the sides were discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"They discussed the situation in the South Caucasus in the context of complicated international environment, the fight against terrorism and threats to the security and stability of the region’s states," the Russian foreign Ministry reported.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

The sides to the conflict currently hold talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc.

However, the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.