The President of Russia informed his American counterpart, as Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, United States and France) on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, of the results of the trilateral meeting with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, in St Petersburg on June 20.
Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia organised the talks to help stabilise the situation in the conflict zone as soon as possible and create the conditions for progress in the peace process. Barack Obama praised Russia’s efforts, and the leaders agreed to continue active cooperation in the Minsk OSCE Group on this vital issue.
During the discussion of the situation in Syria, Vladimir Putin urged Barack Obama to facilitate as quickly as possible the separation of moderate Syrian opposition forces from the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremists that are not covered by the ceasefire regime. Both sides reaffirmed their readiness to step up coordination of American and Russian military actions in Syria, and emphasised the importance of resuming inter-Syrian negotiations under the aegis of the UN to achieve a a political settlement.
During the discussion of Ukraine, the President of Russia again pointed to the importance of Kiev strictly observing the Minsk agreements of February 12, 2015, including the start of a real direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, amnesty, special status for the DPR and the LPR and the joint elaboration of a law on local elections. He emphasised that there is no alternative to a political settlement and stressed the need to step up efforts to address ceasefire violations and the importance of full compliance with the agreement on the withdrawal of heavy weapons and the separation of the sides to the conflict, in which the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has a major role to play.