YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS. It is high time to intensify efforts for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. As Armenpress reports citing “TASS” news agency,  Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this during his meeting with the Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov on Friday.

"We have been working in line with the agreements in the framework of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group with our American and French counterparts," the Russian foreign minister said.

 "Our contacts with them are permanent, and their contact us regularly, too. I believe the common approach is to move towards results. We shall be able to achieve progress of the kind in near future," Lavrov added.

The Nagorno-Karabakh issue is a conflict between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians. The present conflict began in 1988 and escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. Tensions and border skirmishes have continued in the region despite the ceasefire regime reached on May 12, 1994. Since then, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been holding negotiations mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) Minsk Group on the region's status. Azerbaijan does not follow the UN Security Council’s 4 resolutions of 1993 till now. Moreover, Azerbaijan constantly violates the principle of Rule of Law.