Armenia has controlled most of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994, following a formal cease-fire in its 1988 war with Azerbaijan. But the underlying dispute between the two, both former Soviet republics, remains far from resolved.
A spate of cease-fire violations this summer led to the deaths of more than 20 soldiers, and prompted a renewed push by international mediators, including meetings between the presidents, Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, in Sochi, Russia, in August, and in Paris in late October. The meetings produced no breakthroughs.