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Azerbaijani defense ministry says its troops were not withdrawn from Farrukh in Karabakh

The ministry also refuted the Russian side’s reports that two Azerbaijani soldiers had been wounded

BAKU, March 27. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s defense ministry refuted reports that its forces were withdrawn from the village of Farrukh in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We notify with regret that the Russian defense ministry’s statement of March 27 is untrue. The positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the village of Farrukh and nearby heights, which are an inseparable part of our country, are unchanged," it said.

The ministry also refuted the Russian side’s reports that two Azerbaijani soldiers had been wounded.

The Russian defense ministry said on Sunday in a bulletin on the activities of Russia’s peacekeeping contingent in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that "following the talks, the Azerbaijani side pulled its units from the area near the settlement of Furukh." It also said that two ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani troops had been reported in the Askeran district and two Azerbaijani and two Armenian soldiers had been wounded.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. 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. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.

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