Azernews.Az

BAKU – Russia will broker talks on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on Friday, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov has said.

Igor Popov, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering peace talks, told the press last week that Elmar Mammadyarov, Edward Nalbandian and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov are due to meet in Moscow by the end of April, while the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents are to hold talks with the Russian leader’s mediation in June or July.

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.