“This topic was discussed at the meeting of the Russian president with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in St. Petersburg in June 2016, as well as during the visits of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Baku and Yerevan in November 2017,” said the spokesperson.  

Zakharova noted that several versions of the document regulating the activities of OSCE within the OSCE have been developed.

She went on to say that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs presented updated proposals during the meeting with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in the Polish city of Krakow on January 18, 2018.

“The foreign ministers agreed in principle on the document developed by the mediators. There are a few technical details left. The parties to the conflict need to agree on this before a mechanism to increase the number of OSCEobservers is launched,” said the spokesperson.

As for the prospects for a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict, Zakharova reiterated: “The parties themselves must demonstrate a political will to reach a compromise solution that will put an end to this protracted conflict.”  

“At the Geneva meeting in October last year, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to intensify the negotiation process, after which the foreign ministers of the two countries met twice and made a statement,” the spokesperson said.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will visit the region in the first decade of February to clarify the parties’ position on problematic issues, added Zakharova.

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