Three foreign ministers to meet in Moscow to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

MOSCOW, June 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The foreign ministers of Russia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia - Sergei Lavrov, Elmar Mamedyarov and Edvard
Nalbandian - will meet in Moscow on Saturday for a discussion of the basic
principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said earlier that the
consultations in the Russian capital will have a "landmark character."
"After the adoption of an important statement in Deauville (by the
presidents of Russia, the USA and France) for the first time in the
history of the Karabakh settlement efforts we have a clear position of the
co-chairs of the Minsk Group," the diplomat said. "We hope that the
parties will specifically work on the arrangements on the negotiating
table in front of them."
"We have in mind the basic principles, and once they have been
adopted, there will begin work on an agreement that will translate these
arrangements into reality," said Lukashevich. "To postpone the process
further and to engage in rhetoric on either side have would be
counterproductive," the Russian Foreign Ministry official said. "The
signal from the presidents is agreements are to be reached, the principles
adopted and a major document worked out that would determine the
parameters of a settlement."
Medvedev, Obama and Sarkozy at the summit of the Group of Eight in
Deauville on May 26 called on Baku and Yerevan to demonstrate the
political will to finalize the Basic Principles (of a Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement) at the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in June.
"The latest version of the Basic Principles, which was discussed in
Sochi on March 5, provides a fair and balanced basis for preparing a
comprehensive peace settlement," the presidents said the joint statement.
According to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, this document gives the
conflicting parties an opportunity to overcome the current unacceptable
situation."
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - the most devastating in the CIS space
- erupted in February 1988. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region
announced its intention to withdraw from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist
Republic and become part of Armenia. In 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh declared
itself independent. This led to an open armed confrontation in the region
in 1991-1994.
In the Karabakh conflict, losses on both sides totaled, according to
various estimates, up to 25,000 people killed and more than 25,000
injured, and hundreds of thousands of civilians had to abandoned their
homes. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross 4,000 are
listed missing.
The negotiating process with the aim to resolve the conflict was begun
on September 23, 1991 by Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In
March 1992, at Moscow's initiative there was established the OSCE Minsk
Group, which includes representatives from twelve countries, including
Belarus, Germany, Italy and Sweden. The negotiating process is conducted
under the auspices of the co-chairs - the U.S., Russia and France.