The escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone cannot contribute to the promotion of the process of a peace settlement, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said. She was answering a Vestnik Kavkaza question about how the diplomats managed to prevent conflicting sides from renewed clashes during the last six months passed after the April fighting in Karabakh, .
"No use of force can contribute to a peace settlement," she said.
"This also applies to the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, and in general, to the theory and practice of international relations and the international settlement policy," Maria Zakharova added.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group visited the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone on October 23-25 and met with the presidents and foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The co-chairs will also meet with the ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the margins of the December 2016 OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg to discuss a possible meeting of the two countries’ presidents in 2017.
On October 26 evening, the Armenian Armed Forces tried to take advantage of bad weather and attempted a sabotage mission by approaching the Azerbaijani positions in the southern direction of the frontline of the two countries’ troops, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said.
Azerbaijani army detected the enemy’s actions in advance and carried out preventive strikes on the enemy’s positions. Suffering losses in dead and injured, the Armenian side had to retreat.
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.
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