HELSINKI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia, the United States and France called here on Thursday for an early comprehensive peaceful solution on Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict-stricken region breakaway from Azerbaijan.

    The three countries, or the OSCE Minsk Group's Co-Chair countries in the jargon of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), made the call on the sideline of the OSCE ministerial meeting in Helsinki.

    In a joint declaration, the three countries urged the parities to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to "build on the positive momentum" established in the Moscow Declaration on Nov. 2 this year.

    "In keeping with the Moscow Declaration, we call on the parties to work with the co-chairs to develop confidence-building measures, beginning with pulling back snipers from the Line of Contact to save lives of innocent civilians and soldiers," said the document.

    "We called on the parties to work with the co-chairs to finalize the basic principles in coming months, and then begin drafting a comprehensive peace settlement," the joint declaration said.

    Nagorno-Karabakh, a region with a large Armenian population, declared independence from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s and has been a source of conflict ever since.

    "We reiterate our firm view that there is no military solution to the conflict and call on the parties to recommit to a peaceful resolution," the joint declaration added.

    On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stressed the necessity to coordinate basic principles on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

    "We call on the sides jointly with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to arrive at an agreement on the basic principles and then start preparations for a comprehensive peace deal," he said.