T he Nagorno-Karabakh war, which ended with a ceasefire on November 10, reaffirmed that Russia is the main role-player in the region. Although two co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, France and the United States tried to stop the war, all of them failed. They were also dropped out of the agreement signed on November 10, which was interpreted in the Western press as a “death” of the Minsk Group. In case of the United States it was linked to the presidential elections in the country, in case of France, with the lack of political will to resolve the issue. There was an opinion, that the war showed that the Minsk Group has exhausted itself, Azerbaijan also talked about it, however it was repeatedly confirmed that the talks will continue at the level of the Minsk Group. Baku tried to involve Turkey in the Minsk Group co-chairs, however the Russian side stated, that they were not going to expand the format.

After the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the USA showed that it wasn’t particularly opposed to resolving the issue without its participation. Making a statement on the agreement reached in Nagorno-Karabakh, the US Permanent Representative to the OSCE James S. Gilmore welcomed it, reaffirming that the Minsk Group is ready to act for the establishment of a stable and lasting peace. He urged the sides to avoid actions that could result in the resumption of clashes, to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric and actions and to take advantage of the cessation of violence to build a lasting peace. Former US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Carey Cavanaugh also spoke about the establishment of ceasefire. He stressed, that it contains many provisions that were developed within the framework of the Minsk Group, which are not far from the position of France and the USA, and the only thing that differs is the deployment of the Russian peacekeepers.

Unlike the United States, France’s statement contained some nuances. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian first of all demanded clarifications to analyze the ceasefire agreement and also talked about Turkey, urging Ankara not to interfere. In the statement, the minister reaffirmed France’s support to the Armenian people. France also stressed that it has played its full role within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

Baku accepts this statement, as well as all French statements in this context too painfully. Referring to the statement made by the French Foreign Minister, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev noted, that France has no role in adopting the joint statements of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia, therefore it is jealous of Russia’s role in this issue. According to Hajiyev, France is now trying to become an Armenian more that the Armenians themselves.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly talked about France’s bias, trying to bring Turkey forward. The situation became especially tense, after French Senate adopted a resolution on “the necessity to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh”, as a result of which Baku urged the OSCE to expel France from the Minsk Group.

What refers to Russia, Moscow stressed that he is not going to expel any of the two co-chairs. On the evening of November 18, a meeting was held in Moscow, between S. Lavrov, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Papov from Russia, Andrew Shaffer from the United States, Stéphane Visconti from France and  Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk. According to the report, published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the interlocutors discussed the situation on the complete cessation of fire and hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. After the meeting, the Russian side provided all the detailed information about the agreement to France and the USA.

The conflict sides also spoke about the OSCE Minsk Group. The RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published the “road map” of necessary actions, the first point of which was the resumption of the Karabakh issue’s negotiation process through the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Besides this, the RA Foreign Minister had several telephone conversations with the Minsk Group co-chairs.

Referring to the Minsk Group, Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is glad for the US and France’s albeit belatedly, but nevertheless a positive attitude towards the agreement.