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An Armenian soldier fires an artillery weapon at the front.
Photo: Sipan Gyulumyan / dpa
"That is a strange position": This is how the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reacted to a proposal from Azerbaijan to the Russian news agency Interfax.
President Ilham Aliyev had brought up the involvement of his ally Turkey in the bloody dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
So far, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), chaired by France, Russia and the USA, has mediated the decades-old conflict.
"The negotiations should continue in this format," said Pashinyan.
That was also agreed in a joint declaration in Moscow.
"But Azerbaijan changes its position every time."
The heavy fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has been ongoing since the end of September.
Azerbaijan lost control of the mountainous area with around 145,000 inhabitants in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union around 30 years ago.
A fragile ceasefire has existed since 1994.
Most recently there were two agreements on a ceasefire, but they were broken shortly after it came into force.
USA hold separate talks with conflicting parties
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held two separate meetings in Washington on Friday with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov and Sohrab Mnazakanjan.
Information about the results of the discussions was initially not given.
Both sides reported new battles on Friday.
According to the Armenian representation, the opposing side shelled the cities of Askeran and Martuni.
Azerbaijan, in turn, accused the neighboring country of firing at Azerbaijani positions in the east of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In addition, both sides reported the shooting down of drones.
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, 927 soldiers were killed in fighting by Friday.
More than 30 civilians were killed.
Azerbaijan has so far not provided any information on military losses.
The number of civilians killed has been given as 63 so far.
Russia estimates that a total of almost 5,000 people have been killed since the start of the new fighting.
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