MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Lavrov told Azerbaijan's Azeri-Press Agency (APA) that Moscow is "interested in restoring peace and tranquility, opening borders, returning refugees, resuming trade and economic ties."
"That is why the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is among our unconditional foreign policy priorities," he said.
A number of disputes in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been agreed while the remaining few present the most difficulty to the confidential negotiations, Lavrov also said.
"I can say that many aspects have already been agreed. There are a few issues left, but they are the most complicated. Nonetheless, the work continues," Lavrov told the Azeri-Press Agency (APA).
Lavrov stressed the confidentiality of the details to the settlement negotiations because of the issue's "delicate nature."
The Russian Foreign Minister added that Russia believed it would continue cooperating with the United States and France on efforts to settle the conflict.
"I expect that our close cooperation on [Nagorno-Karabakh settlement] with Washington, as well as with Paris, will continue."
He pointed to the active engagement between the three co-chairs of the conflict settlement mechanism known as the OSCE Minsk Group. Russia, the US and France regularly visit the region and generally speak from a unified position in talks with the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said.
"I believe that such a team approach is evidence of how it is possible and necessary to cooperate on the issues of overcoming international conflicts," Lavrov said.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the mostly Armenian-populated autonomous region sought to secede from Soviet Azerbaijan. It proclaimed independence after the USSR collapsed in 1991, with Azerbaijan seeing Armenia as the region's occupying party.
The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994. The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh most recently escalated in April 2016.
