Analysts say a presidential-level meeting scheduled for June 25 in Kazan, Russia, is the best opportunity in years to end the stalemate in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process. The momentum has been driven in large part by President Dmitry Medvedev, who has invested his time and prestige in resolving the dispute, says an article in The New York Times.
Russia’s goal for the late-June meeting is to persuade the sides to agree to the set of “basic principles” negotiated more than five years ago, said Aleksandr Lukashevich, a spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry. He said international mediators – Russia, France and the United States – had clearly expressed the urgency of a deal.
Presidents Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy called upon the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan “to demonstrate their political will by finalizing the Basic Principles during their upcoming summit in June.” “Further delay would only call into question the commitment of the sides to reach an agreement,” reads a statement adopted by the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries in Deauville.
