U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick has told APA that the seven territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh are to be returned to Azerbaijan's control as part of a comprehensive settlement as he stated in his speech at the Carnegie Endowment. Warlick said this when commenting on the media reports on return of some territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh disseminated following Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's recent visit to Armenia.
"Another important element of a settlement will be a determination of Nagorno-Karabakh's status. It is essential for the presidents to find the political will to reach a settlement that contains these elements", APA quotes Warlick as saying.
To note, according to media reports, during his visit to Yerevan on November 9 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tried to persuade Yerevan to cede some districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. "This way Moscow hopes to encourage Baku to join the Eurasian Economic Union," the media outlets say.