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Negotiations between participants in a trilateral working group to unblock transportation links in the South Caucasus are ongoing, but the latest escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan has had a negative effect on this activity, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum currently underway in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, TASS said.

"Certainly, any escalation of tensions always negatively affects our work, by stranding and delaying us; and time elapses before we can return and sit down to the negotiating table again," he said, responding to a relevant question. "The negotiations are ongoing," he assured reporters.

According to Overchuk, deputy premiers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet again to discuss unblocking transport communication in the region when conditions are ripe for such talks.

The senior Russian official said earlier, following the latest meeting of the working group, that substantial progress had been made in agreeing on how to unblock transport links between Azerbaijan and Armenia.