WASHINGTON, September 20. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and urged him to immediately stop hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller: said in a statement.

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev today to urge Azerbaijan to cease military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh immediately and deescalate the situation," the statement says. "The Secretary emphasized that there is no military solution and that the parties must resume dialogue to resolve outstanding differences between Baku and ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh."

Also, Blinken "noted President Aliyev’s expressed readiness to halt military actions and for representatives of Azerbaijan and the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet, and he underscored the need for immediate implementation."

In a separate statement, Miller said that Blinken spoke to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as well to express "the United States’ deep concern for the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh." He also "underscored that the United States is calling on Azerbaijan to immediately cease hostilities and return to dialogue immediately."

"He told Prime Minister Pashinyan the United States fully supports Armenia’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity," Miller said.

On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression." Residents of the Armenian capital took to the streets to protest outside the Armenian government building, blaming the country’s leadership and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the situation.