Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – Russia will seek to advance a settlement to the long-lasting Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh this year "a little further than last year" with the aid of the other countries co-chairing the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

"Besides our participation in the ‘troika’ [Minsk Group co-chairs the United States, Russia and France], the Russian Federation, in the face of President Medvedev, will avail of its relations with Yerevan and Baku to try to resolve outstanding problems in the three presidents’ format," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.

"We are looking to foster upshots on two to three problems, and though there are only a few of them compared to the already agreed issues, they are the most complicated ones."

According to the minister, the most important point now is to avoid hampering the peace process. He explained that "as soon the rostrums of such organizations as the UN and OSCE are employed, the issue is shifted from working discussions to the debating realm", which does nothing to bring the parties’ positions closer, but on the contrary, leads to a toughening of their positions.

"So far, we have managed to overcome such syndromes, mainly through the efforts of our president, who has been creating an atmosphere for the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan that is conducive for seeking solutions, and Russia will continue making an effort in this area."

Lavrov added that the next meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers will be held later in January.

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a brutal war that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. The hostilities, which flared up due to Armenia’s territorial claims, ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.