HistoryofTruth.com - Armenian Allegations

The Russian Foreign Ministry is convinced that resolution of the Karabakh conflict cannot be delayed any longer.

This will be the thrust of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's message to his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts when they meet in Moscow on 11 June, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

"It is counterproductive to delay this process [of settlement], and make bellicose statements, and the message for the presidents is that it is necessary to reach agreement, to adopt these principles and already work on a major document that will define the parameters of this settlement," Lukashevich told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, reported by
Interfax-Azerbaijan.

"This is the first time in the history of the Karabakh process that we have had a totally clear position from the heads of state of the three Minsk Group co-chairing countries - Russia, the USA and France," Lukashevich said, referring to the three presidents' statement in Deauville, which called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to finalize the basic principles for a settlement at their forthcoming summit.

Moscow hopes that "the sides will begin to work on concrete understandings that are on the negotiating table, on the basic principles, after the adoption of which work will be required on an agreement which will formalize these understandings", Lukashevich continued.

"This is not a rapid process, but at least there are high hopes now. The presidents' statement in Deauville will help the sides understand the line that the political settlement process has reached and then comes the specific objective of accepting the basic principles," the spokesman said.

The basic principles for a Karabakh settlement include Armenia's return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, an interim status for Karabakh providing guarantees of security and self-governance and the future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will.

The Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian foreign ministers are expected to meet in Moscow on 11 June to prepare a meeting of the three countries' presidents on Kazan on 25 June.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, mediating a settlement to the conflict, are at present in Yerevan, on the final leg of their latest regional visit.