OSCE Minsk Group could be dissolved, says Moscow

PanARMENIAN.Net - The mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement has lost its relevance, Armenia and Azerbaijan can jointly initiate the dissolution of this structure, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, told a briefing on Wednesday, December 25.

"The mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh has lost its relevance," Tass cited the diplomat as saying. "Consequently, all relevant structures – the Minsk Group itself, the high-level planning group and the office of the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office for the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement – are subject to dissolution. We believe that the optimal way to make an appropriate decision on this matter is a joint proposal by Baku and Yerevan to liquidate said institutions."

The official representative of the diplomatic department claimed the West used to “block” the work of the platform. "The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs from the United States and France stopped communicating with the Russian Co-Chairs in February 2022 and did so on their own initiative," Zakharova said.

"The termination of this communication, Armenia's recognition of Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan following the Armenia-Azerbaijan-European Union-France summit, which took place on October 6, 2022 in Prague, and the radical changes in the situation on the ground in September 2023 ultimately led to the termination of the work of the OSCE Minsk Group."