MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. The ‘Interaction-2020’ and the ‘Poisk-2020’ (‘Search-2020’) military exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) planned in Armenia in late October have been postponed, CSTO Spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov announced on Tuesday.
"The CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces’ drills ‘Interaction-2020’ and the CSTO reconnaissance forces’ exercise "Poisk-2020’ planned for the end of October on the territory of Armenia have been postponed. The CSTO member states are discussing the place and the timeframe of holding these drills," the spokesman said.
The post-Soviet security bloc has made a decision to cancel joint drills on the territory of Armenia amid the escalation of the conflict in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in 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 between 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 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.