Mills: The principles of the Karabakh settlement published by the US  mediator of the MG OSCE are accepted by Armenia as the basis for  negotiations

ArmInfo. The document published yesterday by the US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Richard Hoagland contains the principles approved by all the co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group, which the Armenian government accepted as the basis for negotiations on the Karabakh settlement, US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills stated in an interview with Radio Azatutyun.

Ambassador Mills said  that Richard  Hoagland spoke and confirmed the  long-standing principles, and we, as a co-chair country of the OSCE  Minsk Group, as the US government, stated that they would become the  basis for any settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I will  note two points regarding the comments of Ambassador Hoagland. First:  this is a newly made statement about the long-standing principles,  which the former US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick  said in 2014. The six principles that he published reflect the  long-standing principles that have been confirmed by all the OSCE  Minsk Group co- chairing countries and a number of international  organizations. And the Armenian government also accepted them as the  basis for negotiations on the settlement of the conflict. I would  also confirm that the principles are a single whole, "Mills  continued. "I met some comments in the Armenian segment of social  networks and in the media in response to Ambassador Hoagland's  statement, in which some principles were singled out. I will say  directly that all these principles are negotiable, some one is not  more important than another, there are no signs that one will be  realized more than the other. All this is part of one package, and it  will be wrong to concentrate only on one principle when you are  considering these key principles necessary for settlement.

According to the document published the day before by Ambassador  Hoagland, the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be  determined through a concerted and legally binding will made in the  future; the territory within the borders of the former  Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, which is not controlled by Baku,  should receive a temporary status, at least providing guarantees of  security and autonomy; The "occupied territories" around  Nagorno-Karabakh must be returned to Azerbaijan's control; the  corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh must be wide enough to  ensure safe movement, but it can not cover the entire Lachin  district; The right of all internally displaced persons and refugees  to return to their former places of residence should be recognized;  And, finally, the settlement in any case should include a  peacekeeping mission in Karabakh.