DUSHANBE, April 7, 2016, Asia-Plus – Azerbaijan’s media outlets report that Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told reporters on April 6 that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Baku to discuss with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov the latest situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Lavrov’s visit this time is of more importance due to the latest events on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the spokesperson said,
Azerbaijan Press Agency
(
APA
) reports.
Zakharova went on to add that Lavrov will also participate in a trilateral meeting with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts which is due to take place on in Baku on April 7.
Russian media reports say that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Moscow is ready to help ensure that ceasefire agreement on disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region will not be violated.
According to
Sputnik
, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow was willing to assist in efforts to prevent ceasefire violations in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“We are ready to help ensure that this [ceasefire] agreement will not be violated,” Lavrov said at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, adding that Russia would seek to “help the parties reach an agreement.”
President Aliyev reportedly underscored Russia’s role in mediating the conflict.
“Russia has taken the initiative in this case once again, and with the mediation of the Russian side a ceasefire has been agreed to,” he stressed, reiterating Baku’s commitment to the peace process despite the latest violations reported on the Armenian side.
A ceasefire came into force on Tuesday after four days of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in which at least 64 people died.
Both sides accused each other of starting the latest outbreak of violence. Azerbaijan claims to have captured several strategic locations in Armenian-controlled territory, in what would be the first change to the frontline since an inconclusive truce ended a war in 1994.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic conflict between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a region in Azerbaijan populated primarily by ethnic Armenians. It has its origins in the early 20th century, although the present conflict began in 1988 and escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. Tensions and border skirmishes have continued in the region despite an official cease-fire signed in 1994.
