Azernews.Az

CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev has expressed hope for a settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

"We are very hopeful that a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will be found, because the state of war and stand-off between two neighboring states are not natural," Lebedev told Golos Rossii (The Voice of Russia) radio station.

Lebedev said the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is doing everything in its power to facilitate resolution of the long-standing dispute.

"This is our common grief," he said. "CIS countries are doing everything they can to solve the problem. Some countries -- for example, Russia -- are making an effort toward the conflict settlement within the [mediating OSCE] Minsk Group, while others – during their communication with Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders and politicians."

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war in the early 1990s which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks brokered by the US, Russian and French chairs of the Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.