STEPANAKERT, October 11. /TASS/. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission in Nagorno-Karabakh cannot begin to function while the reports on ceasefire violations by both sides of the conflict keep pouring in, representative of the ICRC Karabakh office Eteri Musaelyan told TASS on Sunday.
"In order for us to begin working it is necessary to wait for the observation of the ceasefire regime. On both sides of the line of contact there are constant media reports that the shelling is underway, that there are casualties. Until a complete ceasefire and safety guarantees for our staff are in place, our neutral mediation cannot come into effect," she said.
At the talks, mediated by Russia and held in Moscow on October 9, Azerbaijan and Armenia had agreed on a ceasefire. It came into effect at 12.00 local time on Saturday, October 10 for humanitarian reasons, in order to trade detainees and recover the bodies of those killed in fighting.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.