On 14 September, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) together with the personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCiO) Andrzej Kasprzyk held intensive consultations in Paris. The Co-Chairs and the PRCiO reviewed the situation in the region with particular focus on new developments following the mid-July violent escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, reported the OSCE press service. 

The representatives carefully considered and assessed the private and public messages and concerns of the sides. They were briefed by the PRCiO on the security situation on the ground and welcomed his concrete preparations for the resumption of monitoring activities. The Co-Chairs also spoke separately by phone with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and invited the ministers to meet individually with the Co-Chairs in person in the coming weeks to further clarify their respective positions, with the aim of resuming serious substantive negotiations without preconditions.

The security developments in the region have been rather concerning in the last days. On 14 September, Azerbaijan publicly addressed the OSCE on the issue of the settlement of Lebanese Armenian’s in Nagorno-Karabakh (Caucasus Watch reported). On the same day, large scale military drills between Armenia and Russia were, as well as the blockage of a Russian military airplane attempting to fly through Azerbaijan’s territory (Caucasus Watch reported). A week earlier, large scale military drills between Azerbaijan and Turkey were held in Nakhchivan (Caucasus Watch reported) and the Russian media speculated that a foreign military base is present in Azerbaijan (Caucasus Watch reported).