BAKU, May 31 (RIA Novosti) - A long-running dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorny Karabakh region should be resolved by the two countries themselves and not by third parties, Russia's defense minister said Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, Sergei Ivanov said: "Any settlement scheme imposed from the outside could in my opinion be not only counterproductive, but also very dangerous."

He said international mediators should not try to impose a solution on Armenia and Azerbaijan, but should facilitate the implementation of any agreement the sides may reach over Karabakh bilaterally.

Ivanov also said peacekeepers could be deployed in the zone of the conflict, which claimed 30,000 lives on both sides between 1988 and 1994 after the Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian population proclaimed independence from Azerbaijan in a bid to join Armenia.

"I do not rule out the possibility of peacekeepers appearing in the Karabakh conflict zone in the foreseeable future to enforce all political agreements that will be reached sooner or later," he said.

The Russian minister's remarks came a day after Armenia and Azerbaijan both claimed fatalities following a shootout between soldiers on the border near Nagorny Karabakh and accused each other of breaching a 1994 ceasefire agreement.

More than 100 people have been killed in the region since the ceasefire was brokered.