UNITED NATIONS, October 31. /TASS/. The UN Security Council may resume discussions on Nagorno-Karabakh if the situation in the conflict zone gets worse, Russian Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia said.
"I cannot exclude that if the situation deteriorates, the Security Council may again return to the issue and look at it. In what form - we will decide as we go. If the situation worsens and if the conflict continues to internationalize, as we hear from many quotes, we'll see what we will do," he told reporters during a news conference on the outcomes of the Russian Presidency in the Security Council on Friday.
The UN Security Council has already discussed Nagorno-Karabakh twice. The meetings were held behind closed doors, without attendance of Armenian and Azerbaijani envoys.
The Russian diplomat expressed hope that the sides would comply with the agreements reached, primarily those regarding a ceasefire, and that a political process would follow.
He also said that Russia had close relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and had huge diasporas both of Armenians and Azeris.
"So for us, it is a special issue, which resonates in our hearts," he said.
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.
Ceasefire agreements have been reached three times, but the hostilities continue, and the warring parties keep blaming each other for violating the truce.
Baku and Yerevan have disputed sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the region declared secession from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. In the armed conflict of 1992-1994 Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjoining districts.