Moscow is maintaining communication with Ankara on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, September 28, according to Ria Novosti.

Peskov said Russia is calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Karabakh and switch to a political and diplomatic channel.

"From the first hours of the escalation, Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov has been in contact with both colleagues from Yerevan and Baku. In addition, on the initiative of the Armenian side, Putin spoke yesterday with the Prime Minister of Armenia," Peskov said.

Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, in turn, called on the parties to the conflict in Karabakh to "calm down, stop the escalation, get rid of belligerent rhetoric, otherwise a catastrophe cannot be avoided."

Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military.