MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Brussels and Washington contacts Moscow to hold a meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh before the beginning of the crisis.

"I am unaware of any clandestine talks (between the US, the EU and Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh). The US and EU contacted us on their own initiative, they asked to hold a meeting, to hold contacts even, and their goal was outlined during the meeting. The sides exchanged viewpoints on the situation. That’s all," the diplomat said, answering a question from TASS.

She made this commentary in regards to recent reports in US media claiming that Russia, the EU and the US allegedly had clandestine talks in Istanbul on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 17, several days before the new escalation.

The new escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh occurred on September 19. Baku announced "local counter-terrorism measures" and demanded that Armenian servicemen withdraw from the region. Yerevan claimed that there are no Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and called the ongoing events a "wide-scale aggression." Russia called on the sides of the conflict to stop the bloodshed and to return to diplomatic settlement. On September 20, the sides agreed to stop the hostilities; the next day, representatives of Baku and the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh "to discuss reintegration issues."

President of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shakhramyan signed the decree on termination of the entity’s existence on January 1, 2024. The local population was told to examine reintegration conditions, proposed by Baku, and to independently decide whether to stay or leave.