YEREVAN. June 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The United States has voiced concerns over recent shootouts on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway told a news conference in Yerevan on Thursday.
The U.S. and the other co-chairmen of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group - Russia and France - are doing everything in their power to keep the truce and prevent a further escalation of tensions, Ordway said.
The ambassador said that his country considers a military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict unacceptable. The U.S. has taken the stance that a military solution would not benefit either party, he said.
Ordway neither confirmed nor denied reports that the possibility of liberating three of Azerbaijan's districts currently under Armenian control is being considered. He said that talks on Nagorno-Karabakh have not yet reached a stage that would allow Armenia and Azerbaijan to center on specific options for ending their disputes.
Commenting on the possibility of replacing the OSCE Minsk Group with another mediator, Ordway said that at the moment, the OSCE Minsk Group is the best possible format for dealing with this conflict.
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and another seven districts neighboring it as a result of an armed conflict with Armenia in the 1990s.