Putin, Hollande discuss Karabakh issue
01.07.2016,
16:05
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande discussed Thursday by phone the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin reported.
MOSCOW, July 1. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande discussed Thursday by phone the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin reported.
Putin was said to have informed Francois Hollande, whose country is co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group together with Russia and USA, about the results of the June 20 three-party meeting with presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in St. Petersburg.
"The leaders of Russia and France expressed hope that the results achieved at that meeting will contribute to promotion of the peace process. It has been agreed to continue active joint work within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group in that important sphere," it said.
During the May 16 meeting in Vienna, Austria, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to work out safeguards against ceasefire violations around Nagorno-Karabakh and resume their search for a compromise peace deal to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
After the June 20 meeting in St. Petersburg, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to increase the number of international observers in the Karabakh conflict zone and noted the achievement of mutual understanding on a number of issues that will create conditions for progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. ---0---
Putin was said to have informed Francois Hollande, whose country is co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group together with Russia and USA, about the results of the June 20 three-party meeting with presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in St. Petersburg.
"The leaders of Russia and France expressed hope that the results achieved at that meeting will contribute to promotion of the peace process. It has been agreed to continue active joint work within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group in that important sphere," it said.
During the May 16 meeting in Vienna, Austria, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to work out safeguards against ceasefire violations around Nagorno-Karabakh and resume their search for a compromise peace deal to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
After the June 20 meeting in St. Petersburg, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to increase the number of international observers in the Karabakh conflict zone and noted the achievement of mutual understanding on a number of issues that will create conditions for progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. ---0---
