MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. The Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) active on the post-Soviet space has expressed serious concerns about the deterioration on the Armenian-Azeri border, the organization said via its website Tuesday.
"The CSTO Secretariat expresses serious concerns about the deterioration on the Armenian-Azeri border that emerged on July 12 after an armed clash between armed forces units of Armenia and Azerbaijan, particularly with the use of heavy hardware, that led to victims and injuries," the statement reads. It is noted, "the situation emerging does not facilitate normalization of the situation along the border of the two neighboring states, one of which - the Republic of Armenia - is a CSTO member state, and shows that there are violations of the ceasefire agreements reached at the level of leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan."
The Secretariat underlined "the need to immediately restore the ceasefire in the CSTO zone of responsibility" and highlighted the fact that the Council of the Collective Security and the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers "repeatedly urged the sides to achieve settlement of conflict situations solely by peaceful means and refrain from provocations to avoid escalation of tensions."
On July 12, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported of the attempt of the Armenian armed forces units to attack the positions of Azerbaijan’s army in the Tovuz direction of the border using artillery. According to the agency, the clashes continued overnight, with four Azerbaijani servicemen killed as a result of the clashes, and four wounded. In turn, the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that the border situation was aggravated after a breakthrough attempt on the part of Azerbaijan. According to the information of the Armenian military, two policemen and three servicemen sustained light wounds.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday discussed in a phone call the escalation of the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border with the top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov and urged the conflicting sides to immediate ceasefire and the show of restraint. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also addressed Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday urging the sides to stop the clashes and to begin to de-escalate the conflict.
The conflict between neighboring 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 was primarily populated by Armenians) broke out in February of 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijani Soviet 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 in the format of the so-called OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.