On July 2, NKR President Bako Sahakyan received co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group Robert Bradtke (U.S) and Igor Popov (Russia) who arrived in Stepanakert on the same day.

Issues related to the current stage, latest developments and prospects of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan mentioned that unconstructive steps of Azerbaijan are the pivotal hindrance on the settlement. In this context the President noted that the recent violations of the cease-fire regime on the part of Baku did not evoke an adequate response from the international community, which causes Azerbaijan to take a harder line.

 The NKR President stressed that independence and security of Artsakh are not subjects to any speculations and any attempt to bring back the past are pregnant with unpredictable consequences.

The President reiterated Artsakh’s adherence to a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the Minsk Group and noted that any attempts change the format would affect the negotiation process. In this respect Bako Sahakyan pointed out the necessity of re-establishing the full format of conflict settlement with full-fledged participation of Artsakh in the negotiation process. The co-chairs agreed over this noting that it would be only a matter of time.

Both sides underlined the unacceptability of a military solution to the conflict.

NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosyan and personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk were present at the meeting.