OSCE Minsk Group on Karabakh settlement should be disbanded- Zakharova

YEREVAN, January 31. /ARKA/. The OSCE Minsk Group "was over" after February 2022, when the American and French co-chairs took the initiative to stop communicating with the Russian co-chair, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

"You remember how they unilaterally, without any consultations, without any advice, and without communication, refused to interact with the Russian co-chair, canceled all previously planned events. That’s where it all ended," Zakharova said at a press briefing.

She added that with the cessation of this communication, Armenia's recognition of Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan following the Armenia-Azerbaijan-EU-France summit in Prague on October 6, 2022, and the radical shift in the situation on the ground in September 2023, the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the Karabakh settlement has lost its relevance.

Consequently, she said, all structures of the Minsk Conference—the Minsk Group, the High-Level Planning Group, and the post of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the Karabakh settlement—are subject to dissolution. "We consider that the optimal way to address this is through a joint proposal by Baku and Yerevan to liquidate these institutions," she said.

In her view, the Minsk Group has simply lost its purpose. "Therefore, the Minsk Group, obviously and logically, should be abolished. Such a necessary step is intended to contribute to the long-awaited normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia," she said.

The President of Azerbaijan declared in June 2024 that the Minsk Group is no longer viable and should be dissolved.

On January 9, 2025, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia would agree to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group as part of proposals to Azerbaijan aimed at establishing stability and peace in the region.