Russian Foreign Ministry: Facilitation of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement among foreign policy priorities of Russia

Moscow, October 15, AZERTAC. Helping the disputing parties resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the Russian foreign policy priorities always remaining in the spotlight of the Russian Foreign Ministry, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow. According to Zakharova, this topic was covered in detail during the official visits of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to Moscow in April-May and is a subject of ongoing contacts of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with his foreign colleagues. "We work in this direction in close cooperation with the United States and France. Recently Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting focused on the essential and practical aspects of the conflict’s settlement on the eve of the forthcoming visit of co-chairs to the region,” said the Russian FM spokeswoman adding that the issues of interaction of the Minsk group countries were also discussed. According to Zakharova, the resumption of political dialogue is complicated by the clashes in the frontline and the increasing number of victims. "We believe that further escalation is unacceptable. We urge the parties to renounce the use of force, to demonstrate the political will to reach a compromise," she said.