Russia says ready to suggest ‘new ideas’ on Karabakh settlement

Russia says ready to suggest ‘new ideas’ on Karabakh settlement –

Along with the other cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group Moscow is ready to make new proposals for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, but the final word will be for Baku and Yerevan to say, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in the Russian capital today, as quoted by media. 

The statement comes amid increased tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone in the wake of the January 19 unsuccessful attacks launched by Azeri subversive groups against the Armenian positions in which one Karabakh army soldier was killed.

“We, along with the Americans and the French, stimulate both sides, we are ready to propose some ideas for Baku and Yerevan to consider, but it is them that must say the final word,” said Lavrov. 

The Russian foreign minister revealed that there were some outlines that were being negotiated around and that needed “additional efforts in order to pass on to agreement on principles of settling this regional problem”. But he emphasized: “The most important thing is the agreement of the parties on the principles that will underlie the settlement… We will not do this work instead of them [the parties to the conflict].”

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, held their first meeting in nearly two years last November. The foreign ministers of the two countries, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov, are due to meet in Paris, France, before the end of this month to try to build on the progress that was reportedly made by the conflicting parties in December. It is yet unclear how the recent increase in tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone will affect the plans for this meeting and the immediate course of the peace talks.