The Armenian Defense Ministry said the meeting touched upon ongoing efforts to boost the combat readiness of Armenian frontline troops. It said Ohanian, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, their deputies and the heads of ministry departments also mapped out further training activities for military personnel.

A ministry statement added that Khachaturov presented a report on Azerbaijani armed "provocations” of the past week and Armenian "steps taken in response to them.” It gave no details.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries, meanwhile, reported fresh truce violations on "the line of contact” around Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. 

Artsrun Hovannisian, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, described the situation on the frontlines as "very tense.” "But you can’t compare it to the incidents of July-August,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), referring to last year’s upsurge in deadly fighting in the Karabakh conflict zone.

In a related development, the United States continued to express concern over the renewed escalation of tensions. "The benefits of a negotiated settlement far outweigh the costs of war,” James Warlick, Washington’s chief Karabakh negotiator, wrote on his Twitter page. "[Karabakh peace] can bring greater prosperity to the region.”

Armenia captured Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts in a war after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991.

Yerevan refused to comply with four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the occupied territory.