MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. On Friday, First Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Andrei Turchak and Deputy Speaker Yury Vorobyov called fellow parliamentarians from other states to abandon interference of any kind in the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the press service of the upper house published the statement by the senators who also serve as co-chairs of the Russian interparliamentary commissions on cooperation between the Federal Assembly (Russian parliament) and the Azeri National Assembly as well as cooperation with Armenia’s National Assembly.

"We are calling on parliamentarians of all other interested countries to abandon any forms of interference in the situation to avert further escalation and internalization of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, involvement of third parties or forces or deployment of foreign terrorists and mercenaries in the battleground," the statement reads.

"There is no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the conflict. Russia will undeniably make every effort possible, particularly with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, to bring the situation back to negotiations," the senators underlined.

Turchak and Vorobyov urged parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to do everything possible to achieve a ceasefire and end the bloodshed "in the name of saving lives of people in the zone of the conflict that cannot have a military solution." "We reaffirm our readiness to provide assistance to our Azeri and Armenian partners in the negotiating process with employing instruments of parliamentary diplomacy in bilateral and multilateral formats," the statement runs.

On October 1, leaders of Russia, the United States and France (co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group) adopted a statement on Nagorno-Karabakh. The presidents underlined that they "condemn in the strongest terms the recent escalation of violence along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone."

Nagorno-Karabakh escalation

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.