Epress.am News from Armenia
Igor Popov, the Russian co-chair of the Minsk Group, which is the OSCE group tasked with mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, told the International Crisis Group’s Europe Program Director Sabine Freizer Gunes that he doesn’t think the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be solved soon, according to a tweet sent by Freizer Gunes from her personal Twitter account earlier today.
The tweet above was followed by another soon after. The more positive message read “But the good news from Popov: It is most important that the Prezs (Arm + Azer) r friendly… the atmosphere in Sochi was excellent,” referring to the last meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Russian resort town of Sochi on Jan. 23.
Note, the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan after a bloody war in the 1990s and is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. Today it exists as a de-facto independent state under an uneasy ceasefire, and OSCE-brokered efforts to resolve its status have so far been unsuccessful. Despite a ceasefire agreement in place since 1994, there have been regular skirmishes along the “line of contact” patrolled by Karabakh and Azerbaijan forces.