Kremlin concerned over developments in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The development of the events in Nagorno-Karabakh calls for even more concern in the Kremlin and very energetic efforts are being made in the international arena to resolve the situation, the presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

According to him, the Russian side has repeatedly expressed concern over the situation in the conflict zone and the development of events calls for even more concern.

"This concern is shared by absolutely all the states in the region, all of the states included in the Minsk group of five governments, therefore very energetic efforts are being made,” TASS cited the representative of the Kremlin as saying.

Recall, as Vestnik Kavkaza reported, the Iranian Foreign Minister called for a peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in a telephone conversation with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian today.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran, Elmar Mammadyarov, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu, will meet in the Iranian city of Ramsar on April 5-6.

Recall, on the night of April 2 all frontier positions of Azerbaijan were exposed to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. In addition, Azerbaijani settlements near the front line, densely populated by civilians, were shelled.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20% of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US, are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.