All news

Lavrov: Russia calls on sides in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to observe ceasefire regime

"We are interested in positive shifts on the political track toward reaching agreements on settling this uneasy conflict," the Russian top diplomat says

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Russia calls on all parties in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to observe agreements on cessation of hostilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Monday after talks with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter.

"An important part of our talks and our relations in general is the problem of security on the European continent," Lavrov said. "We are concerned over the escalation in the zone of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he added.

"We call on the sides to observe the agreements reached on cessation of hostilities, to prevent violations of this agreement," Lavrov noted. "We are interested in positive shifts on the political track toward reaching agreements on settling this rather uneasy conflict," he said.

On Saturday, April 2, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh rapidly deteriorated when the parties to the Karabakh conflict accused each other of violating truce along the front line. The claims came from defense authorities of Armenia and of Azerbaijan.

On April 5 Azerbaijan’s Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Nadjmeddin Sadykov and his Armenian counterpart Col. Gen. Yury Khachaturov in Moscow with Russia’s mediation. At the talks the sides reached an agreement on cessation of hostilities at the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. On the same day, the defense ministries of the two countries announced that the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh would start at 12am local time.