Richard Hoagland's tenure as the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group has ended, with Andrew Shaffer set to take up the post, Hoagland himself said in Washington, according to the Voice of America.

According to Hoagland, Sheffer is a skilled American diplomat who has in recent years been serving as Charge d'Affaires of U.S. missions in international organizations.

Hoagland said Sheffer has real experience in tackling conflicts in Cyprus and elsewhere, and expressed confidence that "the State Department and the Secretary have chosen a brilliant U.S. co-chair."

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are negotiating a settlement over the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh). The latter, alongside Armenia and Azerbaijan, signed ceasefire agreements in 1994-1995 but the conflict has yet to be resolved.