The Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) welcome the joint announcement by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Armenian Foreign Minister Zorab Mnatsakanyan, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on a humanitarian ceasefire and call on the sides to execute their commitments in full.

The Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, are in intensive discussions with the International Committee of the Red Cross on the modalities and logistics of the return of remains and detainees as soon as possible.  We call on the sides to provide all the necessary security and logistical assurances on an urgent basis.

The Co-Chairs remain actively engaged with the parties to facilitate their efforts to reach agreement on concrete parameters of the ceasefire and to conclude intensive substantive negotiations to reach a settlement on the basis of the agreed upon principles and format.