Steinmeier: Minsk Group to Hold Karabakh Talks in Vienna on Tuesday

The OSCE Minsk Group, which has been mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis settlement since 1992, will convene on April 5 in the wake of the conflict's escalation.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed Monday that the OSCE Minsk Group will meet on April 5 in Vienna at the level of ambassadors to discuss the recent outbreak of violence along the separation line in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic in Azerbaijan.

"The Minsk Group on Nagorny-Karabakh will meet tomorrow in Vienna at the ambassadorial level," Steinmeier said at a joint conference with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende in Berlin.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, has been mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement since 1992.

On Saturday, Azerbaijan and Armenia reported about fighting in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 33 people were killed and more than 200 injured as a result of violence escalation.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. In September 2015, the conflict escalated, with the sides blaming each other for violating the truce.