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Azerbaijan is attempting to obstruct or complicate the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the Caucasus region, Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan told a press conference on Wednesday.

Babayan recalled that the Artsakh president met with the new Russian co-chair in Yerevan once in the past two years, highly valuing it.

The FM said the Minsk Group mediators last visited the region in late 2019, adding technical problems arose subsequently in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the 44-day war.

Babayan expressed hope that the co-chairs will eventually pay a visit to the region in the near future, especially since the mediators themselves are interested in it.

“We recently witnessed [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev’s demarche against the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, saying the format should be dissolved. But I do not believe the co-chairs will succumb to this blackmail,” the minister said, adding Artsakh has an opportunity to convey its position to the mediators.

The Artsakh official recalled that in 2007 Azerbaijan also tried to prevent the co-chairs’ visits to Artsakh, but its efforts failed and the visits continued.

In Babayan’s words, although there are some differences between the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, Russia, U.S. and France, the co-chairs themselves show solidarity in the Artsakh issue.

Separately, he stated now the main task of Artsakh is to preserve its entity.

“At this point, our key task is to maintain the status of Artsakh as a geopolitical actor,” Babayan said. “We must show the world that Artsakh exists and we are the masters of our own destiny.”