Lavrov says Russia has proposals on Karabakh conflict

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia has certain proposals and the clashes in Karabakh conflict zone should “make us more active in seeking a political settlement” to the conflict, the Russian Foreign Minister said Wednesday, April 6, Bloomberg reports.

Sergey Lavrov met with President Ilham Aliyev in the Azeri capital, Baku, according to the presidential website.

“We fully support the initiatives of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs,” Lavrov said. “We believe that with the help of the OSCE and the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is important to take confidence-building measures as soon as possible and create the necessary conditions for the resumption of the political process.”

Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev travels to Armenia Thursday for talks with President Serzh Sargsyan on the conflict over Karabakh before visiting Baku on Friday. Lavrov will have talks with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan in Moscow on Friday and is due to visit Yerevan April 21-22.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 33 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 121 were wounded in the course of military operations. 25 Karabakh soldiers have gone missing so far.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.