OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to visit Karabakh conflict zone

PanARMENIAN.Net - The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs will visit the South Caucasus region to tackle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. No certain date has been set though, the Russian Co-chair said, according to RIA Novosti.

The Co-chairs last visited the region on April 5, following an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone. Azerbaijan on April 2 launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh which claimed hundreds of lives on both sides.

“We’ll, of course, visit the region, but the date is still in the adjustment stage,” Igor Popov said.

According to him, the Russian, U.S. and French Co-chairs, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE-Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk met in Vienna on Monday, July 11.

“The meeting was generally dedicated to assessing our mediation efforts as well as the outcome of a recent meeting in Saint Petersburg,” Popov added.

Armenian Persident Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev met on June 20 in Saint Petersburg to address the conflict, with Russian President Vladimir Putin mediating the talks. The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents confirmed their commitment to the implementation of agreements reached at a Vienna-hosted meeting on May 16. To that end, they have agreed to increase the number of international observers in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. Also, they expressed satisfaction that the ceasefire was now holding.

Prior to that, a meeting between both leaders was organized on May 16 in Vienna, with top diplomats from the MG co-chairing countries hosting the summit.

“My French and American colleagues briefed us all about their respective talks with President Francois Hollande and Secretary of State John Kerry. Also, we discussed further plans of organizing our mediatorship.”