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Putin, Pashinyan discuss escalation of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Putin once again called for immediate cessation of hostilities

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. Escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was in focus of a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin press service said on Monday.

"The sides continued to discuss the escalation of the armed confrontation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which is entailing serious losses on both sides, including among the civilian population," the Kremlin said.

Putin once again called for immediate cessation of hostilities, it said, adding that the conversation was initiated by the Armenian prime minister.

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.