The French Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Brice Roquefeuil, who is visiting Armenia, said Monday that his country wants to preserve the mediation efforts for a settlement to the Karabakh conflict.

The French diplomat’s announcement came after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week suggested that France and the United States had pulled out of the Minsk Group co-chairmanship process as a result of Western sanctions on Russia stemming from the Ukraine military campaign.

Roquefeuil made the statement during a meeting with Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan, who emphasised the need for a comprehensive and lasting resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan also highlighted the role of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the Karabakh settlement process during his meeting with the French diplomat.

Mirzoyan briefed Roquefeuil on the current situation in Artsakh resulting from the incursion of Azerbaijani forces into the Parukh village in Artsakh’s Askeran district, which is currently under the supervision of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

Mirzoyan also discussed Azerbaijan’s deliberate efforts to advance the humanitarian problems in Artsakh and the steps taken by Baku to advance its ethnic cleansing of Armenians. Armenia’s Foreign Minister also emphasised the need for the return of Azerbaijani forces to their initial positions.

Despite these grim fact about Azerbaijan’s continuing aggression against Armenians, Mirzoyan presented the position of Armenia on starting negotiations with Azerbaijan on a peace treaty, in this context highlighting the mediation role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and the Co-Chairing countries.