U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates considers necessary to renew efforts to end the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a Pentagon official said, commenting on the outcome of the talks between U.S. and RF Defense Ministers, ITAR-TASS reports.

According to him, the sides held a brief discussion on the recent clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The officials stressed “the efforts to end the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh should be renewed."

The ministers considered a wide range of issues on Nagorno-Karabakh. “Gates stressed the necessity to adhere to the ceasefire agreement, reached in 2008 August and called on the Russian side to be more transparent about their armed forces in the region.”

As reported previously, on June 18, an Azerbaijani task force intruded into Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan, killing 4 Armenian soldiers and wounding 4 others.

On August 31, at about 6:30 a.m. Yerevan time, the Azeri side committed act of sabotage on the frontline. Armenian soldiers spotted Azeri soldiers near Verin Chailu and threw them back, causing losses to the enemy. The soldier Rudik Manaseryan was injured in the skirmish.

On September 4, at 6:50 a.m. Yerevan time, the Azeri side tried to commit another act of sabotage on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces, 2 kilometers east of Jraberd settlement.  The Azeri task force retreated, leaving one dead. The members of the Azeri task force were blown up by mines while retreating. There are injured. According to intelligence data, one of them is a commander of a sapper unit, the other – of reconnaissance unit. The Karabakh side incurred no losses.