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US official says there is no military solution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Robert O'Brien called for regulation within the OSCE Minsk Group

WASHINGTON, October 23. /TASS/. US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Robert O'Brien said during a meeting with Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Jeyhun Bayramov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan that there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, calling for regulation within the OSCE Minsk Group.

"In my meeting with Azerbaijani FM @bayramov_jeyhun, I pressed for an immediate ceasefire then a return to Minsk Group-facilitated negotiations with Armenia, & rejection of outside actors further destabilizing the situation. There is no military solution," O’Brien wrote on Twitter.

"I met with Armenian FM @ZMnatsakanyan to discuss the need for an immediate ceasefire & a return to Minsk Group-facilitated negotiations with Azerbaijan. The U.S. will continue our strongest diplomatic efforts at all levels until the conflict is resolved," the official informed.

The Nagorno-Karabakh regulation talks are held within the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the US and France since 1992. On October 1, leaders of Russia, the US and France Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement on the events in Nagorno-Karabakh, condemning an escalation of violence on the line of contact. Putin, Trump and Macron called for an immediate ceasefire.

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. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

The conflict over 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.