Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in the Karabakh conflict zone Andrzej Kasprzyk said he is suspending his monitoring because of coronavirus, the official website of the OSCE reports.
The appeal circulated by Kasprzyk notes that the situation resulting from the spread of COVID-19 has led to the closure of international borders throughout the region, travel restrictions for international and local staff, as well as restrictions on personal contacts to reduce the risk of infection.
“In view of the above and after consultations with the parties, the monitoring will be suspended until the restrictions are lifted … I continue to liaise with the relevant military authorities”, – Kasprzyk quotes the website.
The conflict in Karabakh started in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijani SSR. During the armed confrontation in 1992-1994, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. Since 1992, negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the conflict have been conducted within the OSCE Minsk Group led by three co-chairs – Russia, the United States and France.
On 11 March the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus COVID-19 a pandemic. More than 200 thousand people are already infected in the world in about 160 countries, more than 8 thousand people have died.