YEREVAN, April 14. /TASS/. Armenia has lost about 4,000 troops during the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday addressing the Armenian parliament.

"Currently, there are 3,621 casualties whose names we know, and 321 are missing in action. The remains of 201 military officers are currently being identified. Another 100 bodies were identified, however, for one reason or another, their relatives refuse to collect their remains, they do not believe expert conclusions. The total number of casualties is about 4,000 people," he said, offering to honor their memory with a minute of silence.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. 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.

On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed. Russian observation posts have been set up along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.