Lavrov sees “certain progress” in Karabakh settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - Acting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sees “certain progress” in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Lavrov gave a press conference on the Russian diplomacy in 2019, and some questions including the one about Karabakh were answered in an emailed statement afterwards.

“There are advances in the implementation of the "small steps", which the Foreign Ministers agreed upon at a meeting in Moscow in April 2019 following the agreements reached between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia in Vienna in March 2019. The situation on the border and the line of contact remains relatively calm. A hotline is working between Yerevan and Baku,” the statement said on Friday, January 17.

“We believe that all this testifies to the intention of the sides to take concrete steps aimed at preparing the populations for peace."

However, so far no progress has been made on the issues of settlement, "the foreign ministry added, expressing hope for a resumption of substantive conversation between the countries.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Mammadyarov told reporters on Friday, January 17 he will be meeting his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan by the end of January.

The Armenian side, however, neither confirmed nor denied the meeting. The Foreign Ministry said they notify about each meeting only after all the details have been agreed with the OSCE Minsk Group.