Latest Karabakh talks focus on preamble for Basic Principles

Three Presidents meet at site of 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Monday January 25, 2010

Three presidents visit 2014 Winter Olympics site. Kremlin.ru

Washington - Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met on January 25 in Sochi for the latest round of high-level talks on the Karabakh peace process.  

With mediation from Dmitry Medvedev, Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev reached a “general understanding on the preamble” that would precede the main body of an Agreement on Basic Principles of settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was cited by RIA Novosti as saying following the meeting.  

The parties have also agreed to develop additional proposals to address remaining differences in the text, which they have been negotiating for years. 

This was the fifth meeting directly mediated by President Medvedev. The first such meeting took place in November 2008, when the two parties issued a joint declaration on settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Additional meetings took place in June, July and October 2009, but produced no further declarations.

Following the formal talks, the three presidents visited the winter resort near Sochi which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Pictures released by the Russian President’s office showed presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, but not of Armenia, skiing down the slopes.