Artsakh police officers and Russian peacekeepers are negotiating with the Azerbaijani troops, who have been terrorizing the residents of the village of Khramort in Artsakh’s Askeran region for several days now, State Emergency Service spokesman Hunan Tadevosyan said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Using loudspeakers, the Azerbaijanis are demanding that the civilians leave the village voluntarily, threatening to “use force” otherwise. They also announce that “Khramort is Azerbaijan, and, in general, Kharabakh is Azerbaijan.”

Tatevosyan says the Azerbaijani soldiers are trying to stir panic among the villagers, but their efforts are unsuccessful.

“No one is going to leave the village. On the contrary, 12 more families from other communities currently live in the village together with the locals," he wrote.