ArmInfo. There is a document now on the negotiating table suggesting a phased settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on April 21 during an online round table organized by the Gorchakov Foundation, referring to UN Security Council resolutions on the Karabakh conflict.
"The resolutions that were adopted are well-known documents. They were adopted in the midst of hostilities and suggested, first of all, the complete cessation of hostilities and the transition to negotiations. These documents confirmed the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan. But, they also called for stopping war and start negotiations. Since then, they have begun negotiations, more than once. There were agreements for negotiations in Key West from 2001, there were subsequent agreements in various formats, reached with the participation of Karabakh, or without it. The format of the Baku-Yerevan negotiations, the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in- Office has already been established, "Lavrov emphasized, adding that this is a useful and good format that embodied the UN Security Council's demand to end the war and begin to agree.
He once again reminded that there are Madrid agreements, there are documents prepared by the Russian side in 2010-11, the so-called Kazan Principles, and there are projects that were distributed a year ago, in April last year, in Moscow at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia with the participation of the co-chairs, which are now being actively discussed.
"These documents presuppose progress towards a settlement on the basis of a phased approach, assuming at the first stage the solution of the most pressing problems, the liberation of a number of areas around Nagorno-Karabakh and the unblocking of transport, economic, and other communications. So, I'm convinced that when we come to a decision on the signing of these documents it will be the most important step in implementing UN Security Council resolutions that called for an end to the war and the start of an agreement. Now its time to reach agreement and we as OSCE MG co-chairs aim to this, "the Russian minister summed up.
It should be noted that the previous authorities of Armenia insisted on not a phased, but a comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh conflict based on well-known principles of territorial integrity, the right of peoples to self-determination and non-use of force.
It should also be noted that today the next talks between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be held through the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in a video conference format.
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