The United States has expresses serious concern about the movement of Azerbaijani troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, and considers these and other escalation measures irresponsible and provocative, Deputy head of the press service of the State Department Jalina Porter told a briefing today, TASS reports.

“The United States is deeply concerned about the movement of Azerbaijani troops. The movement of troops and other escalation measures are irresponsible and create an unnecessary provocation,” she said.

“We are closely monitoring the situation along the line of contact,” Porter said. “Armenia and Azerbaijan need to use direct channels of communication to immediately de-escalate,” she added.

On Thursday, Azerbaijani troops invaded the village of Parukh in the Askeran region in Artsakh. Casualties have been reported as a result of clashes on the line of contact.