Yerevan always in favor of direct talks on Karabakh settlement with Baku - Armenian ambassador in Moscow
MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) - Yerevan is always in favor of direct talks and any kind of meetings with Baku on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and a top-level meeting can be arranged shortly, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toghanyan said.
"This idea has been aired by the French side. We are always in favor of any kind of a direct meeting and any kind of negotiations. The co-chairs are working on the matter, and I think we will respond with pleasure whereas there are some specific proposals on the place and the format," Toghanyan said in an interview with Interfax.
"We know by now that, after the co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] visited the region, they started working on a meeting. It is unclear whether this meeting will be held at the heads of state level or at the ministerial level, but, in principle, I believe that the meeting at the top level will happen soon," Toghanyan said.
The ministerial meeting, where foreign ministers will lay the groundwork for the top-level talks, is most likely to happen first, he went on to say.
"It is too early to talk about any dates right now," Toghanyan said.
He also reaffirmed Yerevan's adherence to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's resolution by solely peaceful means.
"I will emphasize: our fundamental ideology is that we must be in a solely peaceful process and we believe that a solution to the conflict must be precisely political," Toghanyan said.
It was reported earlier that the French OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, Ambassador Stephane Visconti, said in late March that France was willing to host a Karabakh settlement meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.