Russia’s Mozambique envoy to get Garabagh negotiator post: report
Igor Popov, who has been serving as Russia’s
ambassador to Mozambique since 2005, will take the post of a new
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) brokering settlement to
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh,
Armenia’s News.am news website quoted a source at the Russian
Foreign Ministry as saying.
Yuri Merzlyakov, who has acted as an MG co-chair since 2003, is due to step down at the end of spring, Russian diplomatic sources say. The outgoing diplomat is expected to be appointed Russia’s envoy to Estonia.
The co-chairs of the MG, which also includes the United States and France, are due to pay their next visit to the region in late March, News.am reported. Merzlyakov will reportedly still represent Russia during their talks in Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s, in defiance of international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*
Yuri Merzlyakov, who has acted as an MG co-chair since 2003, is due to step down at the end of spring, Russian diplomatic sources say. The outgoing diplomat is expected to be appointed Russia’s envoy to Estonia.
The co-chairs of the MG, which also includes the United States and France, are due to pay their next visit to the region in late March, News.am reported. Merzlyakov will reportedly still represent Russia during their talks in Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s, in defiance of international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*
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