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While Pope Francis was on his pilgrimage to Armenia, the first Christian Nation on June 24-26, several developments occurred concerning the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which might have remained unnoticed.

First, in an interview to the Azerbaijani ANS TV channel on June 22, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Novruz Mammadov said that, “during the St. Petersburg meeting an advantage was given to a phased settlement of the conflict”.

“From now on a phased settlement will be operating; [by the Armenian troops] leaving the five occupied Azerbaijani territories, then two more. Afterwards, the status of Karabakh will be decided. The parties have agreed on this matter in principle,” Mamedov had said.

On June 23, spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova responded to Mammadov’s statement. “I would ask you to be guided by that statement, rather than those very unscrupulous claims involving attempts to interpret the results of the meeting”.

“There is a concrete statement that was made [in Saint Petersburg] and it is an official document. One should proceed from it, rather than frivolous or perverse interpretations,” Zakharova concluded adding that no attempt was made to undermine the joint efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.