While speaking about the recent meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers with participation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Bratislava, Slovakia, the spokesperson stressed that the impossibility of continuing further dialogue between the parties was not mentioned during the meeting.

“I wouldn't say we stressed the complete irreconcilability of positions of the parties or the lack of grounds for conducting further dialogue,” Zakharova said. “It seems to me that the parties did not talk about this. The fact that positions of the parties differ is obvious, otherwise there would be no negotiation process.”

“We, as a country that performs the relevant international mediation functions, will do our utmost to continue this dialogue to successfully resolve the protracted conflict,” the spokesman added. “For our part, we will do everything for the dialogue to continue in a constructive way and the parties to be able to come to a mutually acceptable decision."

Zakharova also stressed that the role of mediators in the recently organized mutual visits of groups of journalists from conflicting countries was very constructive.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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