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Lavrov plans talks with Armenian Foreign Minister about Nagorno-Karabakh

The ministers are expected to discuss international and regional issues, as well as the entire range of bilateral ties

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks on Monday with his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan, who has arrived in the Russian capital on a two-day working visit.

The upcoming talks will be Lavrov's second face-to-face meeting with the new Armenian Foreign Minister over the past month. Their previous negotiations took place on November 21 during the visit of the Russian interdepartmental delegation to Yerevan.

The ministers are expected to discuss international and regional issues, as well as the entire range of bilateral ties. However, the key topic of the talks will be the implementation of the statement by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh from November 9.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over the disputed territory, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said that Azerbaijan and Armenia would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. In addition, the Agdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts were handed back over to Azerbaijan.