BAKU, May 11. /TASS/. The Russian delegation at the talks in Baku intends to map out specific steps for resolving issues that arise on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on Tuesday.
"We are set for full and conscientious implementation of all the accords on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.
"Yesterday, [at a meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev], current tasks were discussed in detail. I hope that today we will be able to map out specific steps that will make it possible to resolve the issues that arise on the ground. Naturally, the situation is uneasy and has not been resolved for years," Lavrov said.
Speaking about the relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, the Russian foreign minister noted that "there are a lot of issues but not problems" between the two countries. "Their number is conditioned by very diverse relations. They are getting increasingly diverse with every passing day and embrace all possible spheres of human activity, from the political dialogue to trade and economic relations, investments, humanitarian ties, educational and cultural contacts and, of course, international policy," Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.
The Azerbaijani foreign minister confirmed that the two sides had accumulated quite a large number of issues, considering the broad agenda, including aspects of the contractual legal framework and the implementation of the decisions of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on Karabakh.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020 with intense battles in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. 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.
Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, some districts passed over to Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. The statement also envisaged an "all-for-all" POW swap.
After the Russian peacekeepers had been deployed to the region, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stabilized. Tens of thousands of Karabakh residents who had fled their homes during the hostilities returned to the region with the help of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.