Moscow concerned over serious deterioration of situation in Nagorno-Karabakh - Lukashevich

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Russia is concerned over the serious deterioration of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich told a briefing on Thursday. "A very difficult situation persists on the contact line and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," he said. "Still there are many cases of violation of the ceasefire regime, armed clashes have become more frequent and the activity of subversive-sabotage groups has intensified." Lukashevich said that according to reports of the monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that are based on official source data, in January 2015 alone a total of 12 people have been killed and 18 injured in the conflict zone. "It is clear that the actual number of casualties may be considerably higher," he added. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been at loggerheads for decades over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inhabited almost entirely by ethnic Armenians but which is located within Azerbaijan’s internationally recognised borders. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that a statement made by the troika of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group after a meeting with the Azerbaijani foreign minister in Krakow on January 27 this year, contains "an appeal to all the conflict sides to observe the ceasefire agreements." On Thursday, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are to meet in Munich with the Armenian foreign minister to discuss the situation on the contact line and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. "We strongly urge the sides to take efficient measures to de-escalate tension and avoid taking steps that may escalate the conflict," the diplomat said. Read more