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Humanitarian ceasefire comes into force in Nagorno-Karabakh

Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan by phone

TASS, October 18. A new humanitarian ceasefire has come into effect in Nagorno-Karabakh at 00.00 local time on Sunday, October 18 (at 11.00 Moscow time on October 17), the foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia said on Saturday.

The two countries said in their statements, "This decision was taken following the statement of the Presidents of the French Republic, the Russian Federation and the United States of America, representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group of 1 October 2020, the Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group of 5 October, and in line with Moscow Statement of 10 October 2020."

Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan by phone.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, "The conversations emphasized the need of strict compliance with provisions of the Moscow statement of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia as of October 10, which envisage a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons."

Apart from that, they "reaffirmed the significance of the agreement adopted in Moscow to begin substantive negotiations with the aim of achieving a peace settlement at the soonest possible time basing on basic principles under the mediation of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group," the foreign ministry added.