Lavrov: Russia will be ready to further provide the most active mediation assistance in Karabakh

Russia is ready to continue to actively play a role of a mediator in various formats to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday following talks with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Report informs citing TASS.

"Russia will be ready to continue to provide the most active mediation assistance both within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and in national capacity in the format of the Russian Federation - Armenia - Azerbaijan," he noted.

The Russian Foreign Minister drew attention to the "importance of intensifying steps aimed at the active and constructive promotion of talks between the parties [to the Karabakh conflict] and the need for further steps to ease tension in the conflict zone, taking into account existing agreements, including those reached in April this year at a meeting of the ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group."

“We consider it important to continue the implementation of these measures, which were agreed between the ministers and discussed at the meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan this year,” Lavrov emphasized.

Answering journalists' question about how Russia relates to the proposal to return Karabakh to the negotiating table as a full-fledged participant in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, the minister replied that "the parties themselves should coordinate and determine the composition of the participants in the negotiations."