NOVO-OGARYOVO, November 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that if hostilities are resumed in Nagorno-Karabakh blood will be on the hands of those who are seeking to protract the implementation of the conflict settlement agreements.

"Those who are seeking to do it [roll back the implementation of the agreements] must be aware that the only alternative to it is warfare," Putin said at a meeting dedicated to the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. "And if, God forbid, it happens, blood of those killed will be on the hands of those who are seeking to wreck these agreements."

"Everyone must understand and be aware of that," he stressed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the meeting about attempts to protract the implementation the agreements committed to paper in the joint statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. "It was quite unexpected for me to hear what you have said," the Russian president 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.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides are to maintain the positions that they held and Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed to the region.