There is prospect of achieving a framework agreement on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov said in his interview to Interfax news agency.

Popov said that during the Vienna meeting the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents agreed on the need to resume the negotiation process on major issues.

“I hope constructive approach will overcome. An agreement was reach at the highest level as to completing the work on the mechanism of investigating incidents and OSCE experts are currently working to solve the issue. Last week we presented expert reviews in this regard to the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers. We are waiting for answers from the parties,” he said.

According to Popov, deployment of peacekeepers can only be possible once major agreements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been reached.

The ambassador added that Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation in the negotiations may also be considered at a certain stage.

“I suppose their chance to return to the negotiations table will be considered after the framework agreement is signed,” he noted.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

More about: