VIENNA (Sputnik) — Moscow, Washington and Paris are ready to host high-level talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Russian, US and French ambassadors to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Thursday.
"Our governments are prepared to host another meeting of the Presidents or Foreign Ministers at the appropriate time," ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the United States and Pierre Andrieu of France co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group said in a joint statement.
According to the statement, Popov, Warlick and Andrieu as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk met separately with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on the fields of the 71th session of the UN General Assembly to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"During the meetings, we paid special attention to implementation of decisions taken at the recent summits in Vienna (May 2016) and St. Petersburg (June 2016). In particular, we discussed further steps that could create an atmosphere for advancing substantial negotiations that could lead to a settlement," the statement added.
Violence erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 2, and led to multiple casualties. The parties to the conflict signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire on April 5, but mutual accusations have not stopped so far.
The OSCE Minsk Group has been attempting to resolve the conflict since 1992. Azerbaijan insists on maintaining its territorial integrity, while Armenia defends the interests of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
