Newly appointed OSCE MG Russian Co-Chair visits Azerbaijan

April 20, 2010 - 16:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The newly appointed Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Igor Popov arrived in Baku on April 20, accompanied by former Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov, APA news agency reported.

“Currently, intensified talks are held to resolve the Karabakh conflict. As a Co-Chair, I will contribute to the process, taking up my activity from the point, where my predecessor has stopped. Russia’s stance on this conflict is known and remains unchangeable. It is important to maintain the pace of negotiations,” Amb. Popov noted.

U.S. Co-Chair, Ambassador Robert Bradtke will arrive in Azerbaijan this afternoon, while Bernard Fassier of France will not join his counterparts this time.

Igor Popov was born in 1954. He is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations. In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Director of the CIS Countries First Department. He holds the rank of extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of 2nd category. On July 15, 2005, he was appointed Russia’s Ambassador to Mozambique, under Russian President’s decree. Since 2006, he has been Russia’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland concurrently.

The OSCE Minsk Group

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States. The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.