ArmInfo. On October 25, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The press office of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has told ArmInfo that the interlocutors touched on a number of issues related to the Karabakh peace process. Nalbandian said that Azerbaijan has been reluctant for several months to implement the arrangements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg, thereby hindering creation of the relevant conditions for promotion of the peace process.
The foreign minister of Armenia noted that despite the numerous calls of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries to abstain from provocative rhetoric and actions, Baku keeps conducting such a policy. This is proved by the Azerbaijani leadership's recent statements distorting the core and spirit of the negotiations and harming the peace process, Nalbandian said.
To recall, on May 16, 2016, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States of America John Kerry, and State Secretary for European Affairs of France Harlem Desir, representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, met with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in Vienna to advance a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict. The Co- Chairs insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements. The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office. Finally, they agreed to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which the Presidents committed during the Paris summit of October 2014. The Presidents agreed on a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.
On June 20 2016, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Saint Petersburg at the behest of Vladimir Putin. Reaching a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the subject of discussion at the meeting, which took place behind closed doors. Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the conflict. The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the final stage of the meeting in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the investigative mechanisms at the present stage of the settlement are irrelevant and the issue can be discussed after "withdrawal of Armenian troops from the NKR". He also stressed that the Office of the OSCE CiO Personal Representative can be expanded by no more than 12-13 people.