MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry delivered another batch of humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh by rail, the ministry’s press service told TASS on Sunday.
"On December 19, specialists of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s joint grouping unloaded 17 rail cars with Russia’s humanitarian assistance. This is 300 cubic meters of lumber and a platform with a truck-mounted crane," the press service said.
The cargo has been delivered to Stepanakert, the de-facto capital of the unrecognized republic. Later the aid will be distributed among the neighborhoods.
This is the second part of the humanitarian assistance delivered by the Russian Emergencies Ministry by rail. So far, nine out of 54 train cars have arrived.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 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. 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.
On November 9, 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. The Russian rescuers arrived in the region on November 16.