YEREVAN, October 26. /TASS/. Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan has highly estimated Russia’s role in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the press service of the Armenian Security Council said on Monday after his telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev.
"During the conversation with Patrushev, Grigoryan touched on the situation at Artsakh’s (the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic - TASS) border with Azerbaijan stressing that that the war had been unleashed by Azerbaijan and pointing to Turkey’s destabilizing interference. He also highly estimated Russia’s role in the conflict settlement. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev stressed the necessity of peaceful and diplomatic settlement of the conflict," it said.
Armenia’s defense ministry reported on Monday morning that Baku had violated the ceasefire, opening artillery fire at the positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh defense army in the northeastern section of the contact line.
On Sunday evening, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the United States’ mediation, agreed another humanitarian ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that entered into force from 07:00 Moscow time on October 26.
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. Fighting continues in the region despite the previous ceasefire agreements.
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.