Merzlyakov noted that Bernard Fassier, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from France, will pay a visit to the region soon. Besides, Vardan Oskanian, the Armenian Foreign Minister, intends to pay a visit to Moscow in April, his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov - to Washington. During these visits the sides will discuss the current stage of the peaceful negotiations, as well as determine forthcoming steps.

According to Merzlyakov, the negotiations and the working visits will be continued after the consultations by the Minsk Group co-chairs in Washington and Istanbul. The further steps and the exact date of the visit of the co-chairs will be determined as a result of the planned meetings. He added that not all of the sides would be free in late April for the visit of mediators to the region.

Merzlyakov stressed that over last weeks he did not participate in the consultations, including, the Istanbul meeting of OSCE MG co-chairs March 20.