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Ceasefire between Baku, Yerevan to take effect Monday

Armenian Foreign Ministerand Azerbaijani Foreign Minister met with Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E. Biegun and reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to implement and abide by the humanitarian ceasefire

© Sergey Bobylev/TASS

WASHINGTON, October 26. /TASS/. A humanitarian ceasefire between Baku and Terevan will take place at 08:00 am local time on October 26, the US State Department said in a joint statement of the US, Armenia and Azerbaijan Sunday.

"Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E. Biegun on October 24, 2020 and reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to implement and abide by the humanitarian ceasefire agreed in Moscow on October 10 <…>. The humanitarian ceasefire will take effect at 08:00 a.m. local time (12:00 a.m. EDT) on October 26, 2020," the statement reads.

"The United States facilitated intensive negotiations among the Foreign Ministers and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to move Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the statement adds.

Ceasefire talks

The peaceful settlement talks to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been going on since 1992 in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group headed by its three co-chairs, Russia, the US and France. On October 1, 2020, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron as the leaders three co-chairing countries adopted a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, condemning escalation of violence along the line of contact and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

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 between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of 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.

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