ARMENIAN, AZERI AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSSED KARABAKH SETTLEMENT IN ASTANA

PanARMENIAN.Net - Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, Robert Kocharian, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin touched upon the Karabakh conflict during their trilateral meeting and in the presence of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Co-chairmen Yuri Merzlyakov, Steven Mann and Henry Jacolen were present at the meeting for the first 15 minutes. After the trilateral meeting with participation of Vladimir Putin, the two presidents continued their meeting vis-a-vis. "We cannot boast of the results. We discuss very aggravated problems that we have inherited," Kocharian said after the meeting. At the same time he noted that both parties are patiet about the dialogue and the negotiations are in progress. "The Presidents specified definite positions, points of view and now we need time to take shape after this round of negotiations", he said. In his turn, Ilham Aliyev said that they summed up the outcomes of the negotiations conducted by the Foreign Ministers. "I give a positive assessment of the permanent meetings of foreign ministers with participation of the OSCE MG", Aliyev stated. The two Presidents confirmed their readiness to search exclusively political measures for the Karabakh conflict settlement, observing the cease-fire obligations. They pointed out that Russia and its partners on the OSCE MG - the USA and France - will continue their assistance to the settlement process. To remind, the previoius meeting of the Armenain and Azerbaijani Presidents took place in Washington this spring, followed by the meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two states.