Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs agree to attend first talks in Russia

Marking the first step towards ending the ongoing conflict at the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan have confirmed that their foreign ministers will attend the talks that Russia offered to host. The Russian news agency carried the statement on October 9 of foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying that the talks are set to take place as ‘participation is confirmed’ by Baku and Yerevan. 

In a bid to ease the ongoing tensions, Kremlin cited Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been invited for talks. As per reports, the decision to invite the ministers was taken after a series of telephonic discussions between Putin and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over a ceasefire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Offering to be the mediator, Kremlin said in a statement that consultations on the disagreements will be held in Moscow. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson had said that Moscow was prepared to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Its spokesperson Maria Zakharova had said that the Russian government is willing to use Moscow as a platform to organise a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijan Foreign Ministers along with the Minsk group and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

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Russia, France, US call for immediate ceasefire

Meanwhile, Russia, France and the United States have jointly called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the raging Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh. In a statement released on October 5, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced the bloodshed “in the strongest terms the unprecedented and dangerous escalation of violence in and outside” of the disputed mountainous region. 

The ministers representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group said that the recent attacks in allegedly targeting the civilian centres on both sides of the Line of Contact and the nature of the attacks constitute to an “unacceptable threat” to the Nagorno-Karabakh zone. 

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