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The military-political situation in the region remains tense, Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

"Azerbaijan's provocative steps and maximalist aspirations pose new threats to Armenia and Artsakh," he stated.

In this context, Pashinyan highlighted the key role of Russia in ensuring stability and security in the region.

According to him, the joint group of the Armenian and Russian armed forces and the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh are of vital importance for ensuring peace and stability in the region.

"At the same time, I continue to believe that Azerbaijan intends to disrupt the implementation of the November 9 and January 11 trilateral statements, in particular over the opening of regional communications and the unblocking of Armenia," he said.

According to Pashinyan, Armenia continues to consider the opening of regional communications a priority and is ready to continue working on the issue, expecting to achieve concrete results.

He noted that Armenia expects Azerbaijan to fulfill its verbal commitment on releasing Armenian captives, hostages and other detained persons immediately.

"Azerbaijan's violation of the Armenian border in the Sotk-Khoznavar section since May 12 this year is unacceptable. We reaffirm our proposal for the settlement of the crisis through a mirror withdrawal of the forces of both sides from the Sotk-Khoznavar section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the deployment of Russian border guards and / or international observers along the border, which may create the necessary conditions for the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. We also reaffirm our readiness to resume peace talks," Pashinyan said.

He underlined that there is no alternative to peace and stability in the region and the Armenian government is committed to fulfilling the mandate received from the people to open an era of peaceful development for Armenia, Artsakh and the region in general.