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Armenian Defense Ministry reports calm night at border with Azerbaijan

The night was also calm on the contact line in Nagorno-Krabakh

YEREVAN, May 24. /TASS/. The operational situation "remained calm along the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan" last night, the Armenian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Overnight to May 24, the Azerbaijani side fired chaotic rounds from firearms of different caliber at the north-eastern part of the state border," the defense ministry said. "Armenian Armed Forces control the situation on the border and confidently fulfill their tasks," the ministry added.

The night was also calm on the contact line in Nagorno-Krabakh. However, Azerbaijani forces "violated ceasefire regime on some parts of the contact line using firearms of different caliber," the defense ministry noted.

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.

Though the ceasefire mostly holds, both sides continue to report occasional violations of ceasefire on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On May 16 the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Vienna. Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev agreed to "make steps to monitor observance of agreements on ceasefire and introduce a mechanism on investigating incidents." They also agreed to "possible resume the negotiations process on settling the conflict," the press service of the Armenian president said.