MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Ministry official spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has voiced hope that the upcoming meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, scheduled for Paris on June 18, will help ease tension in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
"We do hope that it will defuse tension and clear the way for further progress towards a settlement and towards coordinating the principles of a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict in line with the agreements reached by the Armenian and Azeri presidents in Sochi in January in the presence of the Russian president," he told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.
"We are alarmed by reports about escalating tension in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. We are particularly concerned over a sharp increase in casualties among soldiers as a result of ceasefire violations in the beginning of this month. There have been casualties among civilians too," the diplomat said.
He called on the conflicting parties to strictly honor the 1994 ceasefire agreement.
Speaking about the incidents that took place on June 4 and 5, he said that they "complicate work on a settlement and undermine the previous agreements".
"We are urging both sides to continue efforts towards resolving the conflict through peaceful, political and diplomatic means on the principles of the non-use of force, territorial integrity, equality and the right of nations to self-determination," Lukashevich said.
Russia, in cooperation with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, will continue to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan in their search for mutually acceptable solutions.
In a sign of rising tension on the line of contact between Armenian and Azeri troops, the Armenian Defense Ministry has announced that two attempts by Azeri soldiers to penetrate the Armenian territory were repulsed on the night of June 4 and 5.
The status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains a stumbling block at the ongoing Armenian-Azeri talks mediated by three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group - from Russia, France and the United States.