RF, Azerbaijan, Armenia presidents to discuss Karabakh conflict.

MOSCOW, January 25 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will meet with his counterparts, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh
Sargsyan of Armenia, in Sochi on Monday to discuss the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin press service reported.

The first meeting in this format was held on November 2, 2008 in the
Russian presidential residence of Barvikha; the second meeting - in St.
Petersburg on June 4, 2009 on the sidelines of the Petersburg
International Economic Forum; the third one - in Moscow on July 18, 2009
on the sidelines of the events taking place during Russian President's Cup
horserace and the previous one - in Chisinau on October 9, 2009 on the
sidelines of the CIS summit, the press service recalled.
Upon the results of the first tripartite meeting in Barvikha "the
presidents signed the Declaration of the Azerbaijani Republic, the
Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, which confirmed the
striving for attaining a political settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict under the international law, the support for the mediating
efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, the United
States and France) and the agreements reached between the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia to intensify the negotiating process and to promote
the creation of conditions for building up trust."
"A forthcoming meeting in the tripartite format is intended to confirm
Russia's intention to continue an active mediating assistance to the
parties to the conflict in order to find a mutually acceptable solution to
the Nagorno Karabakh problem, particularly within the framework of the
OSCE Minsk Group," the Russian presidential press service reported.
"Russia's position of principle in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement is
not to impose any recipes from outside to the parties to the conflict,
proceeding from the assumption that the Azerbaijanis and the Armenians
should assume major responsibility for the final choice," the Kremlin
press service said. Alongside, "Russia would be ready to support a problem
solution that will satisfy all sides concerned and to act as a guarantor
of settlement if a compromise is reached." "The Russian side considers as
viable a solution that will allow bringing stability and calm back to the
Transcaucasia and will help preserving the historical geopolitical balance
of force in the post-conflict period," the press service said.
"Along with the Nagorno Karabakh settlement problem the presidents
will discuss topical issues of regional cooperation (with due account of
Russia's current presidency in the CIS as of January 1, 2010), the
measures that are being taken within the framework of regional integration
unions to overcome the negative aftermaths of the world financial and
economic crisis, as well as the situation in the Caucasus region," the
Kremlin press service said.
The Nagorno Karabakh settlement is always in the focus of all meetings
between the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents. The conflict
between the Transcaucasian republics broke out in 1988 when the Nagorno
Karabakh autonomy decided to secede from the Azerbaijani SSR and get
incorporated into Armenia. This led to an armed conflict in the region in
1991-1994.
The talks started on September 23, 1991 and involved Russia,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In March 1992 Moscow initiated the
creation of the OSCE Minsk Group with the participation of 12 countries.
The Minsk Group worked out a plan of gradual settlement. At present, the
talks continue within the Minsk Group co-chairmen of which are Russia,
France and the United States.
In 1999 Baku and Yerevan began a direct dialogue. In 2009 the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met nine times.
On November 2, 2008 Medvedev initiated a tripartite meeting of the
presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia that resulted in the
Declaration on the principles of the settlement of the conflict. This is
the first document signed by the three countries over 15 years.
In the course of the negotiations the positions of the parties remain
unchanged. Baku insists on the liberation of Azerbaijani territories and
return of refugees. Then it believes it necessary to discuss the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is ready to give a high level of autonomy for
this region as part of the republic.
Armenia insists on determining the political status of
Nagorno-Karabakh and its international recognition, and then it is
necessary to eliminate the consequences of military actions.
Russia believes that Armenia and Azerbaijan should reach political and
diplomatic mutual understanding. Moscow reiterated that it was ready to be
a guarantor of the settlement of the conflict.
On Sunday, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group issued a statement
that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia are ready to continue the
Nagorno Karabakh peaceful settlement process and reaffirmed a serious
approach of both sides to the negotiations. The international mediators
said in the statement they met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in
Baku on January 21 and with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan
on January 20. The Armenian president received the updated variant of the
2007 Madrid Principles document, which contains the latest wordings of the
basic principles of conflict settlement. The same document was delivered
to the Azerbaijani president in December 2009.