 As the Soviet Union's disintegration approached during the late 1980s, the enclave's government expressed its desire to secede and unite with the neighboring Armenian SSR.By 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan were independent countries but the nascent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic remained internationally unrecognized despite its government's declaration of independence.Small-scale violence had flared up between the two ethnic groups in February 1988 but soon escalated to use of Soviet-built tanks, helicopters, and fighter bombers appropriated by both sides after the collapse of the Soviet Union.