Foreign Ministers of Russia and Turkey Sergei Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu thoroughly discussed the escalation of tension around Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the ministers expressed serious concern over the ongoing armed confrontation and spoke in favor of an immediate cessation of hostilities. The inadmissibility of the involvement of militants of illegal armed formations from other regions in the conflict was emphasized. The need for extremely balanced steps was noted in terms of providing political and diplomatic assistance to Baku and Yerevan.

They reaffirmed their readiness to closely coordinate the actions of Russia and Turkey to stabilize the situation to return the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a peaceful negotiation channel as soon as possible.

The Russian side drew attention to the efforts undertaken by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, including the joint statement of the Presidents of Russia, the United States and France as of Thursday.

Topical issues on the bilateral agenda were touched upon. It was agreed to maintain further contacts.