MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Russian peacekeepers have delivered humanitarian aid to refugees and large families from remote villages of Nagorno-Karabakh, the country’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Russian peacekeepers provided assistance to residents of the two most remote Nagorno-Karabakh’s villages of the Mardakert Region. Humanitarian events were carried out primarily to provide residents with clothing, essentials and medicines," the ministry quoted Igor Sivakov, Head of the Humanitarian Response Center of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, as saying.

Russia’s Defense Ministry clarified that nearly 1,000 people currently lived in the remote Khnkavan and Chapar villages of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Mardakert Region, many of them are in dire need.

"During the humanitarian event, Russian peacekeepers handed over essentials, household items, clothes, hygiene items, toys, and baby carriages to refugees and internally displaced persons," the Defense Ministry stated.

Humanitarian aid was provided by Russian public organizations and charity funds. Apart from items and products, families were given medical kits, including a small set of essential medicines, and surgical dressings. "In total, Russian peacekeepers handed over to Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents about 155 tonnes of humanitarian supplies delivered to Armenia by Russian charity organizations and funds," according to the country’s Defense Ministry.

Intense clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia flared up on September 27, 2020, in Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in the conflict zone, which facilitated a complete cessation of hostilities. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, while several regions came under Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the contact line and the Lachin corridor.