Yerevan /Mediamax/. Russian Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov stated today in Yerevan that investigating which side initiated military actions at the Line of Contact is not within the mediators’ mandate.

“We have a mandate to hold meetings with political and military leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, visit Nagorno-Karabakh and meet de facto authorities. Our main goal is to help the sides stabilize the situation and take measures to prevent renewal of military actions. Our mandate doesn’t imply investigation on who started first,” said Russian Co-Chair today.

According to him, after meetings in Baku, Stepanakert and Yerevan, mediators have an impression that the sides intend to and are ready to maintain ceasefire.

“We spoke about what needs to be done to maintain peace. The main goal is to bring the sides to the negotiation table. There’s an understanding that it’s necessary to return to political discussion and build trust between the sides,” said Igor Popov.

The mediators will continue discussions in their respective main cities, meet again a week later and return to the region.

“The issue of retrieving the bodies of killed soldiers should be solved as soon as possible. The International Committee of the Red Cross deals with that currently, the retrieval works are arranged by the Office of Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk,” noted Popov.

Answering the question from Mediamax on introduction of investigation mechanism, French Co-Chair Pierre Andrie said:

“We have been talking about investigation mechanism for several years, and we will continue to insist on it.”

Touching upon the latest statement Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made in Baku that Russia has suggestions on settlement of NK issue and the sides are close to an agreement, Igor Popov said that as Russian FM himself stated, “there is no “Lavrov’s Document”.”

“There are suggestions from Co-Chairs, which were discussed during several past years. They are based on three principles and six elements that Co-Chairs stated more than once,” said Popov.

According to him, the issue of peacekeapers’ placement will be solved in the final phase of settlement, after peace agreement is signed.

American Co-Chair James Warlick said that the mediators are deeply concerned with violations of human rights at the conflict line these past days. “We saw photos and asked representatives of the Red Cross to carefully review what happened. This is in the centre of our immediate attention,” said American mediator.

Touching upon return of NKR into negotiations, Igor Popov said that “We frequently stated that Nagorno-Karabakh should return into negotiation process at a certain point”.

“We proceed from the idea that the signing of framework agreement preceeding peace agreement can become a starting point for that,” explained Russian Co-Chair.

Answering the question whether Turkey could be excluded from OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick said that no changes are expected in Minsk Group format at the moment. He remined that all participating states of Minsk Group adopted a statement that Turkey joined as well.

“We expect to work with all participating states of Minsk Group, including Turkey,” said Warlick.