During a joint press conference with UN Secretary General António Guterres, Lavrov was answering the Moscow-Baku news website journalist’s question about the UN Security Council resolutions.

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, in 1992 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.

"The mentioned resolutions were adopted during the period of hostilities,” Lavrov said. “Along with the steps taken on the spot, by our country as well, they [resolutions] allowed to greatly stop this bloody situation and turn it into a political dialogue. The OSCE Minsk Group was established with the consent of all parties without exception.”

“Russia, together with the US and France as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, with the full consent of Baku and Yerevan is working to realize the tasks that all of us face,” he said. “A consensus between the parties of the conflict is required to achieve that. As soon as we move in this direction, I am sure that the conflict will be resolved very soon."

In his turn, UN Secretary General António Guterres stressed that the key point is the respect of the UN member states to the decisions of the UN Security Council.

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