Lavrov: Separate meetings of Putin with Sargsyan and Aliyev planned

The OSCE Minsk Group makes considerable efforts so that the parties of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict could adopt a document stating the political principles of a settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS.

“No doubt, what is going on the so-called line of contact is worrying. The sides accuse each other of provocative actions, which happened in the past as well, unfortunately we have witnessed periodically such outbreaks of violence for many years, but this time it is being perceived and presented in a sensitive way. Quite a lot of people have died and we together with the other Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – the U.S. and France call on the sides to show maximum restraint and refrain from actions that may result in another outbreak of violence,” the Russian foreign minister said.

“Separate meetings of our president with the Armenian president and then with the president of Azerbaijan are scheduled for the end of this week in Sochi, and when they gather in the same place at the same time, the talk will turn to Nagorno Karabakh. How it will be organized depends on us.

Of course, we will talk with our partners from Azerbaijan and Armenia about how we, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, help build trust and reduce confrontation risks,” Lavrov said.

“The conflict is very emotionally perceived by both sides. We make considerable efforts together with our American and French partners to help solve several issues that prevent the conclusion of a document containing the political principles of a settlement because these issues should be brought up to the mark so that the sides could form a package acceptable to them,” Lavrov said, stressing the need to help Armenians and Azerbaijanis to seek “such formulations that will be appropriate for both of them”.

According to S. Lavrov, at a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents some time ago, the sides agreed on a ‘modest statement about how trust building measures should be developed”. “In case of skirmishes, it is necessary to exchange prisoners and the bodies of killed soldiers and in principle reconcile some additional steps to calm the situation on the Line of Contact,” he explained.