MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has briefed the participants in a meeting of permanent members of Russia's Security Council on a joint statement the presidents of Russia, France and the United States will make on Nagorno-Karabakh, presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said.
"At the meeting special attention was paid to the situation on the line of engagement in Nagorno-Karabakh," Peskov said. "Once again extreme concern was expressed over the continuing hostilities."
"Putin briefed the participants in the meeting on the drafting of a joint statement by the presidents of Russia, the United States and France on Nagorno-Karabakh," Peskov said.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.