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Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick (USA), Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France) will do everything to reduce the tension in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, French co-chair Pierre Andrieu reported the Azerbaijani news agency "Trend".

According to him, the co-chairs hope that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue meetin in the future. "We would really like that the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met during the summit of the UN General Assembly in September at the latest. In the end, the final decision is made by the Presidents, we are trying to play the role of intermediaries. It's not easy, but we continue," he said.

According to the diplomat, the co-chairs will soon visit also other member countries of the Minsk Group, including Belarus, Serbia and Italy. "Recently we were in Helsinki at the invitation of Foreign Minister of Finland. The main purpose was to inform the Finnish side of the current situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We also go to Minsk, Belgrade, because this year Serbia is chairing at the OSCE, and to Italy," he said.

Commenting on his current visit to the region to the Azerbaijani news agency "Report" Pierre Andrieu also noted that the mediators intend to hold a meeting with the presidents of the two countries, as well as the defense ministers. During the visit the further steps to resolve the conflict, as well as the aggravated situation on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the contact line will be discussed. "Recently tension is recorded on the frontline, and we want to do everything to reduce this tension. That’s for what we work," he said.

As stated in the article, he said, one of the positive points of the summit in Paris is that both countries involved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict agreed to a mutual exchange of data about the missing during the war under the auspices of the Red Cross and this issue will also be raised during the visit. "I think we will have a meeting with representative of the Red Cross in Baku, and there will also be a meeting with the Red Cross in Yerevan. And we would like that the Red Cross had already started working on this, because thousands of families want to know what happened to their fathers, brothers, this is a very sensitive topic and it is part of confidence-building measures between the two countries. This is certainly a small step, but I hope that it still play a role," said Pierre Andrieu.

Speaking about the possible impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the co-chair noted that it had no effect on their work, and the intermediaries continue their mission of resolving the conflict,” writes the "Report".

Today kicked off the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group to the region. They hold meetings and talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov. On February 17 the co-chairs will travel to Yerevan. Thus they are expected to have meetings with the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. The co-chairs then will leave for the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.