MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Russia is ready to continue assisting Armenia and Azerbaijan in maintaining peace and stability in the region and calls on both sides to show restraint, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"It is clear from official statements by Baku and Yerevan that the sides have completely opposite assessments of the situation and are accusing each other for what happened [the shelling of military positions]. Russia is in contact with both Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the situation peacefully," the Russian diplomat pointed out.
"Joint work continues to remove tension. We call on both sides to show restraint and prevent new incidents and resolve all disputes solely by political and diplomatic methods. We are ready to continue assisting the sides for the purpose of maintaining peace and stability in the region," the spokeswoman said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier held a phone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held telephone talks with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, she said.
"As a result of these mediatory efforts, the fighting stopped from yesterday evening," the spokeswoman pointed out.
"The latest events confirm the importance of launching the process of the delimitation and subsequent demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as quickly as possible and also [the importance of] the beginning of the work by the relevant commission based on proposals earlier submitted by Russia. We again note the importance of organizing a trip by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the region," the Russian diplomat said.
Commenting on the likelihood that Russia may engage mechanisms of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the 1997 Russia-Armenia Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the diplomat noted that Moscow "takes its bilateral and multilateral commitments seriously."
"On a bilateral basis, as I have mentioned, consultations are being held. As for the CSTO, according to our information, the organization keeps a close watch on the situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," she said.
Intense fighting erupted between the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the border districts of Armenia’s Syunik region on November 16. Yerevan said that the Azeri troops had launched an offensive into Armenian territory. The highway that links Armenia’s capital with the southern regions and Iran was jeopardized.
Meanwhile, Baku blamed Armenia for the fighting, accusing the Armenian armed forces of provoking the situation. As the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported, the Armenian troops attacked Azeri army posts.
