YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Russia will continue supporting the efforts of Italy, which is chairing OSCE in 2018, in the settlement process of the NK conflict, Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said.

“We fully share Italy’s approach in the OSCE efforts in terms of settling regional conflicts”, he said, mentioning that this first of all relates to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

Lukashevich stressed that efforts shouldn’t be eased in the settlement processes of other conflicts as well.

“We will support Italy’s OSCE chairmanship efforts in the settlement of the Transnistira and Nagorno Karabakh conflicts. We highly appreciate OSCE’s role in assisting dialogue between Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the sidelines of the international Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia”, he said.

Italy is supporting the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement issue, foreign minister Angelino Alfano, the new OSCE chairperson in office said in the OSCE Permanent Council, presenting the priorities and program of his chairmanship.

“We support the work of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in the Nagorno Karabakh issue, for finding a final agreed solution for this conflict”, he said.

Alfano stressed that their attitude for protracted conflicts will remain the same and that during Italy’s term in the OSCE they will always focus of these issues.