At a press briefing yesterday in Stepanakert after meeting with RMK President Sahakyan, Minsk Group Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said that settlement negotiations had entered a ‘crucial’ phase, since Armenia had responded to the latest proposals offered by the Group. Mr. Merzlyakov noted that while Armenia hadn’t accepted all of them, Azerbaijan had previously positively responded to the overall package of proposals. The Russian Co-chair said that he and the other member of the Minsk Group were now engaged in getting Armenia to agree as well. He recalled that a similar situation in the settlement process had been reached two years ago, but back then it was the Azerbajani side opposed to the proposals on the table.