PACE’s Karabakh report blunts OSCE efforts: Lavrov

PanARMENIAN.Net - Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Yerevan to discuss implementation of bilateral deals among other issues.

“The Russian Foreign Minister and I met in Moscow, then in Yerevan, and this is yet another suitable occasion to focus on important issues,” Nalbandian noted.

Meetings were organized in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and the Armenian President visited Moscow in September and May, 2015.

“We discussed the implementation of bilateral presidential agreements, signed during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Moscow.” Lavrov noted. “The presidential agreements are being implemented, perhaps, not so quickly as we would like them to – for objective reasons – but cooperation is producing tangible results, including investments in fuel and energy sector as well as price reduction for gas supplied to Armenia.”

The parties also discussed the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as PACE’s recent report on the escalation.

With a vote of 24 to 16, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has approved an anti-Armenian report titled “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan” by Robert Walter (United Kingdom, EC), a rapporteur of the PACE Political Affairs Committee. The report contained inappropriate wording.

“PACE and other international organizations should consult with the OSCE [Minsk Group] Co-chairs before issuing reports or resolutions on Nagorno Karabakh,” U.S. Co-chair James Warlick said in a tweet.

“Any radical move disrupts the OSCE mediation efforts for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” Lavrov said.

According to Lavrov, the co-chairing countries - Russia, France and the United States - firmly oppose all attempts aimed at shifting the resolution of the Nagorno Krabakh conflict from the OSCE Minsk Group's competence to that of other any international organization not mandated to tackle the problem. He said the road to peace lies in consistent and patient dialogue.

The Russian foreign policy chief said the Co-chairs take into account arrangements and agreements reached by the sides, and the Minsk Group is the only authorized body on the Nagorno Krabakh conflict settlement.