Agreement on the basic principles on Karabakh would allow work to begin on a peace treaty, writes today’s New York Times on the recent talks on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement between presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Russian city of Kazan.

According to the paper, international mediators had set the bar high for the presidential talks in Kazan, calling for approval of a set of basic principles that would defuse the standoff over Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Russia, France and the United States had applied concerted pressure on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to approve the basic principles in Kazan,” writes the paper.

However, hopes for a breakthrough were deflated when Russia, which convened talks, released a statement saying that the leaders of the two countries had not agreed to the framework for a deal.

A diplomat involved in the talks, who spoke with Times on the condition of anonymity, said that talks were “not a make-or-break meeting” and that work on an agreement would continue. The diplomat added that the two sides had made less progress than mediators had hoped.

“It was clear in the talks that there is still a great deal of mistrust between the sides,” he said. “We all felt it would be possible to achieve more.”

The paper stressed that domestic politics have proved to be a formidable obstacle to a resolution as well. Thus, international mediators said it was not clear whether the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents had the political will to present a deal to their citizens.

According to New York Times, the basic principles include granting Nagorno-Karabakh an interim self-governing status, returning several regions to Azerbaijani control, guaranteeing refugees the right of return, providing a safe corridor between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, creating international peacekeeping forces, and beginning the process of determining the enclave’s ultimate status.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, according to the joint statement approved by Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents, in Kazan leaders “reviewed work carried out under their instruction to agree on draft basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.” Presidents noted the achievement of mutual understanding on a number of issues.

“Solution of these issues contributes to creating conditions for the approval of the basic principles,” reads the statement.

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed their gratitude to the leaders of Russia, the United States and France as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing states for their permanent attention to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and valued personal efforts of Russian president to assist reaching an agreement.