Commenting on the creation of a task force for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict alongside the OSCE Minsk Group, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation isn’t aware of the creation of any task force in bilateral format instead of the Minsk Group.

“The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to proceed from the neutral role of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, which make major contributions to the development of the basic principles for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which underlie the agreements recorded in the November 9 statement by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.

We proceed from the fact that the reached agreements help create the necessary conditions for a long-term settlement of the crisis surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, with a fair ground and based on the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples,” Popov said.