The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is far from being settled, Armenia’s caretaker Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Yerevan, summing up their talks held earlier on Thursday.

“Only through peaceful negotiations is it possible to achieve a comprehensive and peaceful settlement that takes into account everyone’s rights and will bring peace and stability to the South Caucasus. Such a resolution must be based first of all on the determination of Artsakh's status within the borders where the people of Artsakh have self-determined," he said.

Aivazian underlined that Armenia is interested in further enhancing and intensifying the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship format dealing with the conflict.

"The Armenian side fully agrees with the position of the Minsk Group co-chairs, which was expressed in the April 13 joint statement that special attention should be paid to the achievement of a final comprehensive and sustainable settlement on the basis of the elements and principles well-known to the sides," Aivazian said.

The interim FM said that they had thoroughly discussed the situation after the statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on November 9 last year aimed at stopping the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression and deploying Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, which prevented any further atrocities against the people of Artsakh.

Aivazian highlighted that thanks to Russia’s efforts some Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) returned from Azerbaijani captivity. At the same time, he said, almost half a year after the cessation of hostilities, Azerbaijan refuses to release all remaining Armenian POWs and civilian captives, violating international humanitarian law.

Aivazian said the humanitarian issues in Artsakh had also been discussed during the meeting with Lavrov.