MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the current tensions on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border with the two countries’ ambassadors, Polad Bulbul ogly of Azerbaijan and Vardan Toganyan of Armenia, during a working breakfast on Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry reports.
"The diplomats discussed issues of security in the South Caucasus, ways to stabilize the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, prospects for invigoration of efforts towards Nagorno-Karabakh settlement under the OSCE Minsk Group mediation," the ministry said.
The situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border escalated on July 12, when Azerbaijan said that the Armenian army had tried to attack Azerbaijan’s positions with use of artillery systems. Armenia, in turn, said the situation on the border had aggravated after Azerbaijan’s attempted attack. Baku has reported the death of twelve servicemen. Yerevan said four Armenian soldiers had been killed and ten more were wounded.
On July 17, both sides reported that the situation on the border was relatively calm.
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.