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By Sara Rajabova
Russia has called for the continuation of the efforts to settle the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
During a Yerevan visit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should continue their efforts aimed at finding a mutually beneficial basis for the conflict's settlement, Armenian media reported.
Lavrov stressed that as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, Russia will continue to actively take part in achieving positive results on this issue.
Russian officials have repeatedly called for an intensification of negotiations in resolving the long-standing conflict.
Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko recently said Moscow is doing its utmost to reach a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Russia is one of the three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries tasked with developing a peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless.
Meanwhile, U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick pledged continuing efforts to settle the conflict.
He told Armenian media that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will continue their efforts, as long as the sides appreciate their role, adding that, nevertheless, the final decision should be made by the presidents.
Warlick went on to say that peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will bring peace and prosperity to the region, which has suffered from the conflict over a prolonged period.
He noted that, together with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are preparing for a meeting between the two countries’ presidents in late 2015.
The U.S. co-chair added that during the meeting, the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are expected to discuss the basic elements of resolving the conflict.
Warlick further expressed hope that the upcoming meeting will provide a new impetus to intensify the dialogue.
The most recent meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents took place in France last October.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in the exhausting conflict. Since a war in the early 1990s, the Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.