Armenia, Azerbaijan Accuse Each Other of Ceasefire Violation

Today, Armenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the provocation of the armed forces of Azerbaijan for attacking the Armenian settlements in the Hadrut region of Nagorno-Karabakh, ARKA News Agency reported.

On December 11, around 8:40 p.m, the special forces of the Azerbaijani armed forces launched an attack on the Artsakh-Azerbaijani line of contact in the area of Hin Taghlar and Khtsaberd villages of the Hadrut region of Artsakh, taking advantage of the fact that peacekeeping forces were not deployed in that area of the Republic of Artsakh, the ministry said in a statement.

It said six servicemen were wounded in the offensive.

Armenia claims that the Azerbaijani forces continued their provocative actions also today in the direction of Mets Shen and Hin Shen villages.

'While strongly condemning this gross violation of the commitments by the top military-political leadership of Azerbaijan under the trilateral statement on the cessation of hostilities and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, we emphasize that above-mentioned actions are aimed at devaluating the presence of the peacekeepers of the Russian Federation in the conflict zone,' the statement said.

Following reports of a renewed ceasefire violation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire and announced that four of its soldiers had been killed in recent clashes in the region.

According to the ceasefire agreement reached between Moscow, Baku, and Yerevan on November 14, Armenia was obliged to evacuate the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin by December 1 and to establish a land corridor from Nakhchivan to Azerbaijan.

In return, the Republic of Azerbaijan pledged to suspend the Lachin Corridor to connect Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia while suspending operations. 

Under the agreement, Russian peacekeepers will be stationed in the area for five years which will be extended if necessary.