BERLIN (Sputnik) — Russia will play a key role in solving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.
"Russia will, of course, play a key role in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We will use our contacts to support the Russian government, as well as the American and the French ones — co-chairs of the Minsk group — in solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Merkel said at a joint press conference with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, proclaimed its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1992–1994, during a military conflict with the self-proclaimed republic supported by Armenia, Azerbaijan lost control over the region.
The conflict escalated in April, with Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of provocations and attacks. On April 5, Baku and Yerevan signed a ceasefire in Moscow following Russian mediation.
