YEREVAN. – Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Saturday received the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Robert Bradtke, Igor Popov and Jacques Faure, and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Deeming symbolic the Co-Chairs’ visit to Armenia’s capital city Yerevan on the days of the 18th anniversary of the establishment of ceasefire at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, Nalbandian noted that the sides had several opportunities to approach the conflict’s resolution ever since the ceasefire, but Azerbaijan had always taken a backward step and thus hindered the reaching of agreements, MFA informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.    

“Azerbaijan was unable to rise above the temptation of solving the problem by the use of force, and it continues its belligerent rhetoric, provocations at the line of contact, [and] acquisition of huge amounts of arms, which obstructs the settlement process, threatens the fragile situation in the region,” the Minister added. 

Also, the interlocutors reflected on the implementation of the arrangements reached in the joint statement which the presidents of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan had issued in Sochi, Russia, on January 23.