Armenian army violates ceasefire 15 times

The Armenian armed forces have "violated the ceasefire 15 times" over the past 24 hours "on various directions of the frontline using, in particular, heavy machine guns," Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.


According to its version, "the Azerbaijani army positions were shelled from the opposite positions located on Armenian territory and on the hills in Nagorno-Karabakh and the districts adjacent to it" controlled by Armenians.


The situation along the line of engagement of the conflicting parties in Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2. Following fierce armed clashes along the contact line, the parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce.


On April 5, Russia mediated a meeting between Colonel-General Najmeddin Sadykov, the chief of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces General Staff, and Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, the chief of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff, that took place in Moscow. The sides agreed to cease the hostilities on the line disengaging the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh. The defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia announced a ceasefire on the contact line as of 11:00 Moscow Time the same day. Ever since, the parties occasionally report brief exchanges of fire along the contact line.


The talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia mediated by the foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Russia, the United States and France) were held on May 16 in Vienna. During the talks, it was decided to honor the truce in the region in accordance with the 1994-1995 agreements. The parties to the conflict also agreed to complete at an early date the work on the OSCE mechanism to investigate incidents along the line of contact.

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