Armenian foreign minister meets in Yerevan with U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
YEREVAN, April 18. /ARKA/. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan received today the U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer, Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan said on his Facebook page, saying also that the details of the meeting will come later.
Last week, the French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Brice Roquefeuil, visited Armenia and had meetings with Armenia's leadership.
On April 14 Russia said it appointed its co-chairman of the Minsk Group Igor Khovayev as special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry to facilitate Armenian and Azerbaijani efforts to normalize relations.
The French and U.S. co-chairs' visits to Armenia come after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Moscow on April 8 'that the United States and France in a Russophobe frenzy have cancelled the co-chairing troika of the OSCE Minsk Group,’ saying also that they will not be communicating with Russia in this format.”
He added: “If they are ready to sacrifice the interests -- in this case of the Armenian side -- of settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and the South Caucasus as a whole, it’s their choice.”
The next day, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it continued to work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to make progress on humanitarian issues, to support their border demarcation effort and help them conclude a peace treaty and resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In response to Lavrov's statement, the US Department of State urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their diplomatic contacts and continue to use direct communication mechanisms to find comprehensive solutions to all issues related to or arising from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to normalize relations through the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement.
The State Department said also that "the U.S. stands ready to support Armenia and Azerbaijan in these initiatives, including through our capabilities within the OSCE Minsk Group." -0-
