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Nagorno-Karabakh talks within OSCE Minsk Group to continue in Moscow — source

The talks are expected to be held later in the day, according to the interlocutor

GENEVA, October 9. /TASS/. Consultations on resolving the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh within the OSCE Minsk Group held earlier in Geneva will continue on Friday in Moscow, a diplomatic source informed TASS.

"The talks with Azerbaijan’s top diplomat will continue today, but in Moscow [not in Geneva]," the source noted. "The Minsk Group co-chairs are flying to Moscow," he said, adding that "the talks in Geneva ended at 1am on Friday [02:00 Moscow time - TASS]."

The Geneva consultations, which began on Thursday and ended after midnight, were held behind closed doors. Neither the place nor the time of their beginning and end were announced.

On Thursday, the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva informed TASS that Russian Minsk Group Co-Chair Igor Popov had arrived in Switzerland to take part in the OSCE Minsk Group meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh. The co-chairs were expected to meet with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. However, the republic’s permanent mission in Geneva told TASS they could not provide any information on the issue.

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that France, the United States and Russia, as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, would hold talks on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in Geneva on October 8 and in Moscow on October 12. He did not specify at what level the consultations would be held.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.