MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh does not have a military solution, and both Azerbaijan and Armenia are starting to understand that, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said in an interview with TASS on the outcomes of the phone call with Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova and Speaker of Armenian Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan.

"Any communication, any contacts, any dialogue, any phone calls are better than shots fired. And we have held very good talks with Armenian and Azerbaijani parliament speakers. Of course, they are very concerned over what is going on, and each is trying to speak their truth," she said, noting that "objective monitoring [of the situation] is being held by the Ministry of Defense, the law enforcement and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." "Our position is unchanged and persistent, and we will continue to express it; and the president of our country is doing a lot to achieve results, to put a stop to military action and immediately establish a ceasefire," Matviyenko said.

"No matter what anyone says, I think that both sides are beginning to understand that there is no military solution, and we have mentioned it many times. There is no military solution to this conflict, only negotiations, only mutual compromise from both sides, only the search for a mutually beneficial decision," the speaker said.

At the talks held at Russia’s initiative in Moscow, Baku and Yerevan agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect at 12:00 local time on October 10 for humanitarian reasons in order to exchange detainees and the bodies of those killed in the fighting. Shortly after noon the sides traded blame for violating the ceasefire agreement.

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 over 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.