YEREVAN, July 14. /TASS/. Armenia expects member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to express a constructive stance in relation to the escalation of tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday during a meeting with Belarusian Ambassador to Armenia Igor Nazaryuk.

“Prime Minister Pashinyan has stressed the importance of open dialogue and cooperation based on trust within common integration organizations – the CSTO and the EAEU,” the Armenian government’s press service informed.

The press service added that Pashinyan had mentioned the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border during the talks with the ambassador, “stressing the importance of a constructive stance of CSTO partner states on this issue.” 

The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border

On July 12, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry informed of an attempt by the Armenian Armed Forces to attack the republic’s positions in the direction of Tovuz on the border using artillery. According to the ministry, the attacks have continued during the night. Baku informed that eleven Azerbaijani troops had been killed since clashes had begun.

For its part, the Armenian Defense Ministry informed of 4 casualties and added that border tensions had escalated after an attempted breach from the side of Azerbaijan.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the escalation of tensions of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with his colleagues from Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov, calling on both sides to establish a ceasefire. On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has also called on both conflict sides to stop the clashes and to begin the de-escalation of the conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed border region between Armenia and Azerbaijan, sought independence from Azerbaijan at the end of the 1980s, which resulted in a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia that claimed the lives of 25,000-30,000 people between 1988 and 1994. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been going on since 1992. Russia, the US and France are co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that acts as a mediator in resolving the crisis. The group also includes Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Turkey.