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There is some activeness by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process, an Armenian deputy foreign minister said Thursday.

“In general, the vector of the process was launched in Vienna, and it hasn’t changed up to now,” Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters following today’s Cabinet meeting.

According to the official, the co-chairs are expecting a progress in the Karabakh negotiation process, which requires confidence-building measures, in particular the implementation of the 2016 Vienna and St Petersburg agreements.

Reflecting on the Armenian president’s visit to Russia, Mr. Kocharyan highlighted Presideent Serzh Sargsyan’s Moscow visit, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming visit to Armenia were planned long ago, adding Sergey Lavrov’s visit is part of the agenda to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Commenting on the question whether the Russian foreign minister will come up with any proposal over the NK conflict settlement, Mr. Kocharyan underscored Sergey Lavrov does not act separately from the OSCE Minsk Group format.

“Strangely enough attempts are always made to separate him in case when Lavrov publically dismissed it for several times,” he highlighted.

Speaking about the reasons behind the recent activeness of the co-chairs, Shavarsh Kocharyan mentioned the absence of any progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh talks for several years already. Moreover, according to him the situation has become volatile, as evidenced by the 2016 April flare-up. “Naturally the renewal of military actions are unacceptable for the co-chairs,” he said.

The deputy foreign minister also reflected on meetings possible in coming future, adding the fact that the Mink Group co-chairs meet separately with the foreign ministers of the two states does not rule out the possibility they may propose a meeting between the Armenian and Azeri FMs. He said the ministry will further inform when such a meeting is scheduled.