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The growing tensions between Russia and the West have affected the work of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, which can lead to freezing of the organization's activities, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan told the Artsakh Public TV in an interview on Friday.

"I hope that after the tensions ease, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship will resume its work," he said.

Speaking about Friday’s meeting of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Babayan charged that Moscow sent “key messages”.

"Russia is primarily interested in maintaining stability and peace. It will do everything possible to maintain peace and stability in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone. In this regard, an importance was also attached to friendly Armenian-Russian relations. This is something very important,” the FM said.

At a joint news conference with Mirzoyan, Lavrov said that the United States and France had stopped working with Russia within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“I don’t know what fate awaits the Minsk Group, since our so-called French and American partners in the group, in a Russophobic frenzy, have canceled the trio of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, saying that they will not be communicating with us in this format,” he said.

“This is their right, if they are ready to sacrifice the interests – in this case of the Armenian side – of the settlement in Karabakh and the South Caucasus as a whole, it is their choice,” Lavrov added.