US defense minister calls for efforts to avoid Karabakh violence

US Defense Minister Robert Gates believes that more effort is needed
to prevent new violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a Pentagon spokesman said
after talks bewteen Gates and tRussian Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov, ITAR-TASS reports.

The spokesman noted that the US Defense Ministry has also considered a
wide range of issue, including the Russia-Georgia cease-fire agreement
of August 2008 and urged Russia to demonstrate more clarity on arms in
the region.

There was also a short discussion on the Middle East, including Iran.