Minsk Group laying foundations of NKR peace agreement - Igor Popov.

The negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are in a quite intensive phase, according to the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Speaking to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Igor Popov said they are now discussing the basic principles which are expected to lay the foundations of a future peace agreement.

The diplomat noted that the leaders of the conflicting countries – Armenia and Azerbaijan - had three meetings in the past year to smooth out the existing disputable issues. According to him, the questions not agreed upon so far appear to be the most difficult problems to resolve.

The Russian diplomat also referred to Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev’s commitment to speed up the peace process (an intention that the two state leaders voiced at a Russia-mediated meeting in Sochi).

“Such position demonstrates that the parties are not only willing to continue the negotiation process but also seek to achieve an expected outcome,” he said.

Popov added that the co-chairing countries – Russia, France and US – consider a peaceful process the only way towards settling the conflict.
The OSCE Minsk group has been spearheading the peace talks over Karabakh since May 1994 (after the signing of a ceasefire accord between Armenia and Azerbaijan).