UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has confirmed on Monday that relevant UN agencies are ready to cooperate with Russia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to undertake humanitarian assessment on the ground.

“The UN Secretary-General has made clear publicly, we hope that the cessation of hostilities will enable humanitarian actors to have the necessary access to all people in need in all areas affected by the conflict, including people displaced by the conflict, particularly in and around Nagorno-Karabakh,” UN Secretary General’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a press briefing. 

“As the Secretary-General stressed in his most recent phone calls with the Foreign Ministers of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the UN stands ready to respond to the humanitarian needs and is prepared to work with all concerned accordingly. The same has been conveyed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” the Spokesperson said.

“In response to a request from the Russian Federation and pending further details on the role and operating modalities of the “Russian Inter-agency Humanitarian Response Centre”, the Secretary-General has confirmed that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and relevant UN entities are ready to cooperate and to discuss possible interaction and collaboration on the ground, including for the purpose of undertaking an initial independent inter-agency assessment in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, as soon as conditions permit, in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the humanitarian needs on the ground,” Dujarric stated.