The Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will meet in the Russian southern resort city of Sochi on March 5 to discuss Nagorny Karabakh settlement issues, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invited his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan to Sochi to discuss the settlement issues of the long-pending territorial dispute, the Kremlin said.
On January 18, during a visit to Cyprus, Sargsyan said that Azerbaijan does not have legal, political, or moral grounds for claiming the territory of Nagorny Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh first sparked in late 1980s, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia. More than 30,000 people are estimated to have died on both sides between 1988 and 1994. Nagorny Karabakh has remained in Armenian control since then.
Russia, along with France and the United States, is a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is mediating efforts to resolve the conflict.
MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti)
