Karabakh Settlement Group Co-Chairs to Meet in Moscow Sept. 8

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian, US and French diplomats tasked with settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group will hold talks in Moscow on September 8, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.

"Consultations among the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group with the participation of Russia's Igor Valentinovich Popov are planned for September 8 in Moscow," Zakharova told reporters.

The meeting is expected to review the implementation of agreements reached at the May 16 summit in Vienna and the June 20 summit in St. Petersburg, she added.

Azerbaijan's Armenian-dominated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed its independence in 1991. After the military conflict ended in 1994, Azerbaijan lost control over the region. Violence erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 2, 2016 and led to multiple casualties. The parties to the conflict signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire on April 5, but mutual accusations have not stopped so far.

On May 16, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev met in Vienna to discuss the conflict. The sides reiterated there could be no military solution to the conflict and reaffirmed their commitment to 1994 and 1995 peace agreements. The presidents also agreed to finalize the OSCE investigative mechanism as soon as possible to reduce the risk of further violence.

On June 20, the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in St. Petersburg where they reaffirmed their commitment to achieve steady progress in political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to increase the number of OSCE monitors working in the conflict zone.