Moscow-Sana
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed, in a phone call, their concern about the continued armed clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the Nagorno Karabakh region, stressing that there is no alternative to a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, following the phone call between the two ministers, reported by Russia Today, said that "developments in the Karabakh region were discussed, and the two sides expressed their grave concern about the ongoing large-scale combat operations."
The two ministers called on the two parties to the conflict to "completely cease fire as soon as possible, reduce the escalation, and that the parties to the conflict demonstrate the political will to stop the fighting."
The Foreign Ministry statement added that it was stressed that there is no alternative to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict and the need to take coordinated steps later by the heads of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes Russia, France and the United States.
On September 27, armed clashes erupted on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the aforementioned region and adjacent areas, in the most dangerous escalation between the two parties in nearly three decades, amid mutual accusations of starting the fighting.
