Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov told Parliament on Monday that the President of Kazakhstan has proposed this new initiative as part of the solution of the Ukraine crisis.

Calls by the South Ossetian leadership for total integration with Russia have so far been snubbed by Moscow, but a far-reaching treaty is expected to be signed this month.

Salber was later quoted by Armenian media as saying that this was his first official meeting with NKR representatives, and he hoped that the dialogue will continue.

In a terse statement the leadership of the OSCE and the Minsk Group co-Chair said that the current military situation constituted a threat to regional stability.

Despite a deteriorating situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict activists in the region are determined to continue their peace-building efforts. At a meeting in Tbilisi the special envoy of the EU to the South Caucasus was there to give his support.

The mediators have few tools at their disposal except diplomatic persistence. We are not yet seeing diplomatic arms twisting, but the handshakes are getting a bit rougher.

Both sides report casualties in the last twenty-four hours. Deaths include soldiers and a civilian.

Opinion: 'Controversy over the use of the term "genocide" should not hinder the solemn and dignified marking by all of one of the darkest pages in 20th century human history.'

The OSCE Minsk Group co-Chair issued a statement following their meeting with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister in Poland on Tuesday calling for an end to the spiral of violence in the Karabakh conflict zone.

What we have seen since the beginning of the year is something different: more serious, more sustained, and more dangerous.