Lavrov briefs Armenia's Nalbandian on Russia-Azerbaijan meetings

PanARMENIAN.Net - Foreign Minister Edward ‪Nalbandian‬ on Friday, April 8 met with his Russian counterpart Sergey ‪Lavrov in Moscow‬.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the officials focused on the situation in the Nagorno ‪Karabakh‬ conflict zone.

During the meeting, Nalbandian stressed that large-scale military actions unleashed by ‪Azerbaijan‬ have seriously damaged the negotiation process of the Karabakh conflict settlement and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. According to him, urgent tangible steps are required for stabilizing the situation.

Lavrov said, in turn, that from the very beginning of the escalation, Russia exerted effort to achieve a ceasefire. He deemed the use of force in the Karabakh conflict zone unacceptable, stressing the importance of observing the ceasefire maintenance deal to prevent recurrence of such situations. According to Lavrov, it's essential to create appropriate conditions to continue the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.

Both Ministers attached great importance to the implementation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs' proposals on strengthening the ceasefire.

Also, Lavrov briefed Nalbandian on the Baku-hosted Russia-Azerbaijan meetings.

In addition, the foreign policy chiefs discussed the process of implementation of agreements on cooperation in different sectors, as well as bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 46 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 122 were wounded in the course of military operations.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 81 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 6 more have gone missing. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.