Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – The OSCE supports the mediating efforts of its Minsk Group’s co-chairs to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and promote confidence building between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the OSCE chief has said.

"In this context, we support Russia’s efforts aimed at making progress towards a negotiated settlement," Audronius Azubalis, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday, according to the OSCE website.

Azubalis said the Lithuanian OSCE chairmanship aims to achieve tangible progress on the protracted conflicts in 2011.

The OSCE chairperson’s meetings with senior Russian officials in Moscow focused on outlining the priorities of Lithuania’s chairmanship and the OSCE’s activities planned this year.

Lavrov told a joint news conference after meeting his Lithuanian counterpart that the principles of resolving conflicts in the OSCE member states should be agreed, Russia’s Rossiya 24 TV channel reported.

"It is necessary to take into account the need for a peaceful settlement of conflicts considering the positions of the sides involved and to prevent the emergence of humanitarian problems for the population in the conflict zones."

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international calls and UN resolutions. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.