The OSCE Council of Ministers has officially adopted a decision to close the Minsk Process and its related structures within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Azernews reports.
The OSCE Minsk Group was established in 1992 by the then Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) to facilitate a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Garabagh. Over the years, however, the Group’s political and diplomatic activity had increasingly been criticized for passivity and limited effectiveness.
The decision to liquidate the institution comes in the wake of a historic development on August 8, 2025, when Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the mediation of US President Donald Trump, initiated the agreed text for a future Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations. Both countries committed to completing and ratifying a comprehensive peace agreement.
In a joint move, Armenia and Azerbaijan requested the OSCE to dissolve the Minsk Group and its associated structures. The OSCE welcomed the August 8 Joint Declaration and affirmed its readiness to support the implementation of the agreement. France publicly backed the call to dissolve the Minsk Group, while Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, confirmed Moscow’s support for the joint decision. The full disbandment of the OSCE Minsk Group is scheduled to be completed by December 2025.
