No work is being done to control the ceasefire in Karabakh, the Foreign Ministry said

15 October 2020


Work on the military line to develop a ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Nagorno-Karabakh is not yet underway, Moscow hopes for a rapid launch of such a mechanism, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said.


She recalled that Moscow's main message was that it was necessary to immediately organize a meeting along the military line and agree on a ceasefire control mechanism.


"As far as we know, no such work has been done so far. We hope that such a mechanism will be launched as soon as possible," Zakharova said at the briefing.


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations, including Sputnik, on Wednesday that Moscow had notified Baku and Yerevan of the need for meetings on the line of the Defense Ministry to develop mechanisms to verify the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Lavrov explained that after the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, the military agrees on the ground, what concrete measures should be taken and who will monitor compliance with the ceasefire.


Fighting on the line of contact in Karabakh began on September 27. Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of unleashing military operations, in Karabakh artillery shelling of peaceful settlements of the unrecognized republic, including its capital Stepanakert, is reported. Armenia has declared martial law and - for the first time - general mobilization, arguing that Ankara actively supports Baku. Azerbaijan has introduced partial mobilization and martial law.


The leaders of Russia, the United States and France, co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group on Karabakh, called on the opposing sides to stop fighting and commit to start negotiations without preconditions. Turkey said it would provide any support requested to Azerbaijan as the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorates again.


On October 9, at the invitation of the Russian President, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia arrived in Moscow and negotiated with their Russian counterpart for over 10 hours. As a result, Yerevan and Baku agreed to cease the fire in Karabakh from midday of October 10, to exchange the prisoners and bodies of the dead as well as to agree upon specific details of the truce in addition. However, on the same day the sides began accusing each other of truce violations.

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Creative Commons

Based on materials from RIA Novosti