Vice President Joe Biden

WASHINGTON—Vice-President Joe Biden called the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents urging them to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As Azerbaijan escalated its military aggression against Karabakh, the US Vice-President, once again, employed the standard false parity, which fails to condemn Azerbaijan.

“As I told Presidents Aliyev & Sarkisian, comprehensive settlement in #NagornoKarabakh is critical for their stability, security, prosperity,” Biden tweeted after the phone calls.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh by phone, in a call initiated by Kerry, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported Monday..

“The heads of the foreign ministries expressed serious concern about the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, reiterating the urgent call to immediately stop the military actions. They agreed to activate the efforts of Russia, U.S., and France as Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group toward contributing to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Lavrov and Kerry condemned the efforts of outside “external players” who are fanning the flames of the confrontation round Karabakh,” the foreign ministry statement said.

In his daily briefing, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner also addressed the Kerry-Lavrov conversation, saying the two leaders “encouraged the parties to come back to talks under the auspices of OSCE.”

“We condemned in the strongest terms violence and a very high number of casualties, including civilians which is deplorable. We urge both sides to stop violence immediately and to avoid any kind of further escalation,” Toner added.

“We expressed our concern about the escalating violence, but it is up to leaders to find political will to reach peace, ceasefire and achieve lasting peace to this ongoing conflict,” Toner said.

He assured that the United States will urge both sides to return to the negotiations “and then we will hopefully get resolution.”

He also said Washington supports the efforts to mediate “a fair and just resolution to Nagorno-Karabakh that is based on principles of international law, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, particularly non-use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination.”