YEREVAN, September 20. /TASS/. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have declared their readiness to take relevant steps with the ultimate goal of ensuring security of civilians in the region, the Armenpress news agency reported.

According to its data, President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Samvel Shahramanyan held a session of the Security Council and made a statement that the international community "is taking no practical steps" on the basis of which the regional authorities "will have to take relevant measures with the ultimate goal of ensuring security of the population as a priority."

At the same time, he gave no details on the particular measures. Some media reports said that they include mass evacuation of citizens, while others believe that the regional authorities will give their consent to a meeting with Baku representatives in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh, which was proposed by the Azerbaijani side the day before.

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.

The command for the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh said that civilians were being evacuated and urged the parties to the conflict to cease fire immediately.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the conflicting sides to prevent civilian casualties, stop the bloodshed, and go back to honoring the agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.