Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has recalled the need for expanding the OSCE observers’ group at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

During his joint news conference with Angelino Alfano, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Lavrov said Russia hopes that the OSCE will be able to operatively put into action the agreements that were reached earlier between the parties to the Karabakh conflict.

“During the trilateral meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia—with the participation of the [OSCE Minsk Group] Co-Chairs—in June 2016, they reached an agreement on adding several people at the [Karabakh-Azerbaijan] Line of Contact, as additional observers,” he said. “Work has been done since that time. Now the parties are close to agreeing on the specific criteria for the implementation of that agreement. And we hope that the OSCE will be able to operatively put it into action.”