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Russian FM responds to Armenian PMâ€™s idea that Nagorno-Karabakh should join negotiations as a party

07 June 2018 12:18 (UTC +04:00)

Russia's position with respect to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged, said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“Our position is that the conflict should be resolved through OSCE Minsk Group-mediated negotiations. We’re convinced that this is the optimal option. We’re following a non-controversial line that evinces a common interest in order to creations conditions for Baku and Yerevan to come to agreement with the other co-chairs of the Minsk Group,” Lavrov told a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart on Thursday, an APA correspondent reported from Moscow.

Regarding Karabakh's participation in the negotiations, Lavrov said that Karabakh has taken part in negotiations at some stage.

“Afterwards, the format of negotiations was changed by mutual consent to take its current form,” he said.

"Let me also note that Russian Co-Chair Igor Popov has never said that Karabakh should be a separate party to the negotiations; however, if Azerbaijan and Armenia agree to Karabakh’s participation in the negotiations as a third party, we would respect this decision," Russia’s top diplomat added.