Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined Tuesday that Azerbaijan and Armenia have been able to significantly narrow differences and agree on the basic principles of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"Thanks to the assistance of the mediators, the parties managed to significantly bring together positions on many controversial issues. In general, the basic principles for the settlement have been agreed," Lavrov said.
Russia cooperates with the United States and France as co-chairs of the conflict settlement mechanism known as the OSCE Minsk Group. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the mostly Armenian-populated autonomous region sought to secede from Soviet Azerbaijan. It proclaimed independence after the USSR collapsed in 1991, with Azerbaijan seeing Armenia as the region's occupying party.
The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994. The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh most recently escalated in April 2016. 

Source: QNA