Russia, Azerbaijan To Discuss Breakaway Karabakh Settlement

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the Nagorny Karabakh settlement with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov in Moscow on Monday.

Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway region on Azerbaijani territory with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population, has been at the center of a bitter conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In early July, Lavrov handed Azerbaijan Moscow’s conflict settlement proposals. Similar proposals were handed to Armenia earlier.

Karabakh has remained under Armenian control since the late 1980s, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia. The conflict is estimated to have left more than 30,000 people dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994.

The OSCE Minsk Group, comprising Russia, France and the United States, has mediated the conflict for many years without much progress.

Shootouts frequently occur on the border between Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh, with Baku and Yerevan continuing to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire agreed in 1994.

At Monday’s meeting, Russia and Azerbaijan will continue jointly seeking ways out of the Karabakh crisis and will also touch upon bilateral cooperation.

The ministers will exchange instruments of ratification for the state border treaty.

Ria Novosti

RIA Novosti was Russia's leading news agency in terms of multimedia technologies, website audience reach and quoting by the Russian media.

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