The Russian Foreign Ministry was responding to a question about the impact of the Armenian parliament's decision to declare a conditional war on Azerbaijan within the Shant-2018 command and staff exercises on the conflict settlement process.
"We have repeatedly stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved without the use of force, only peacefully," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “In this regard, we think that the most topical task is for the parties to focus on the intensification of the negotiation process. The corresponding agreement was reached at the summit on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Geneva in October 2017."
Earlier, the National Assembly of Armenia decided to declare a conditional war on Azerbaijan within the Shant-2018 command-staff exercises. The corresponding information was posted on the website of the National Assembly.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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