Issues related to monitoring the ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone are key. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this at Monday’s joint press conference in Moscow with his visiting Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

According to him, in the telephone conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the PM of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan—and which preceded the trilateral meeting in Moscow, the topic of how the ceasefire shall be monitored on site was also touched upon.

The Russian FM stressed that the solution of this matter—taking into account the seriousness of the issue of the exchange of POWs, detainees, and corpses—should not be delayed. According to Lavrov, therefore the work continues, the Russian side and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are directly involved in it, and the ICRC is also ready to join.

The Russian FM stressed that his country will continue to participate in the settlement of the conflict—both as one of the aforementioned co-chairs and as a very close ally and partner. "Our joint night ‘awakenings’ were not in vain," Sergey Lavrov said, expressing hope that soon it will be possible to break the situation—and in which both Russia and the conflicting parties are interested.