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On March 19, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev delivered a Nowruz speech,
saying that some of the actions by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group were provocative.
Specifically, in an attempt to explain why the Council of Europe
has not adopted a pro-Azerbaijani draft resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh,
Mr Aliyev said that "the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, who received a mandate to work on this issue,
are helping freeze the conflict with their destructive activities.
By interfering with the work of an international organisation they have exceeded their mandate."
Russia co-chairs the Minsk Group. Do these accusations target the Russian Foreign Ministry, among others?
To what extent are they true?
Maria Zakharova, the Spokesperson of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia
I think that on the one hand, you need to refer to Azerbaijan
in order to find out whom of the co-chairs they are talking about.
On the other hand, I can say that we don't believe that this reproach targets us
due to us being a long-term and constructive participant in the negotiation process.
The sincerity of our commitment to this process is beyond any doubt, I think.
And not like other co-chairs, but just like Azerbaijan and Armenia,
we are eager to resolve this challenging situation that has been a matter of great concern
in terms of bilateral relations for a long time.
We want this issue to be finally removed from the agenda, and to be settled under international law
based on the principles of equality and respect of the parties.