Author: Garnik Tadevosian

Armenia confirms ceasefire after Azerbaijan border clash

Garnik Tadevosian
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Nov 16 2021

Armenia's government announced that Moscow had brokered a truce after they reported that 15 of their troops had been killed by Azerbaijani soldiers on the tense border region between the two countries.

    

Armenia and Azerbaijan do not have official diplomatic relations

Armenia's Defense Ministry announced late on Tuesday that the Kremlin had arranged a ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan.

The Armenian government had said earlier in the day that several of its soldiers had died after the latest flare-up in tensions between the old foes. 

The announcement came after European Council President Charles Michel said he had spoken to both President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and asked them to end hostilities, without blaming either for the "challenging situation in the region." 

He wrote on Twitter that the "EU is committed to work with partners to overcome tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus."

The French Foreign Ministry echoed Michel's call, saying that "France calls on all parties to respect the ceasefire to which they committed after the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020." 

Armenia's parliament had reported that at least 15 troops had been killed and 12 captured on the border with Azerbaijan in the latest spate of fighting. They then asked Russia for help defending the frontier, where the Azerbaijani military said two of its service members were wounded.

The Kremlin later confirmed that President Vladimir Putin had spoken with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also spoke by phone to his Armenian and Azeri counterparts and called on them to cease all hostilities, Interfax news agency reported.

The clashes come a year after the countries fought a war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which left more than 6,500 people dead. A Moscow-brokered peace deal ended the conflict after six weeks, and saw Armenia relinquishing territories it had controlled for decades.

The conflict goes back to when ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed. The ensuing war claimed around 30,000 lives.

Both sides blame the other for the renewed violence, which was characterized by the use of small arms and artillery after Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of shooting at workers near the border.

es/wd (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Iran urges for restraint amid new Azeri-Armenian conflict

Garnik Tadevosian
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Nov 17 2021

Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stressed the need for the two countries to respect internationally recognized borders and called on them to resolve their differences through dialogue and peaceful means.

Khatibzadeh described the current tensions as dangerous for the gradual process of achieving peace and progress in the region and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran like in the past, is ready to assist the sides to resolve disputes and establish stability and security in the region."

Armenia's eastern border with Azerbaijan has witnessed a new round of escalating tensions between the two countries while they accuse each other of violations, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, quoting the Armenian parliament.

Interfax also reported that the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced today that 12 Armenian soldiers had been captured by the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan stated in a separate statement that it blames Armenia for the deliberate escalation of tensions on the border between the two countries.

Earlier, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that the situation on the eastern border of the country had been very tense since 4 pm (local time).

KI/Spox

 

Amid Azerbaijani pressure, Armenian government under internal attack

Garnik Tadevosian
EurasiaNet.org
Nov 17 2021
Ani Mejlumyan Nov 17, 2021
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a cabinet meeting to discuss a new round of fighting with Azerbaijan. (photo: primeminister.am)

As clashes erupted again on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the Armenian government is coming under fire for what many criticize as its ineffectual response to Azerbaijani offensives.

The November 16 fighting, which Armenian officials say was the result of an Azerbaijani cross-border incursion, was the worst since the two sides fought a war last year.

Exact figures on the Armenian casualties are not clear: On November 16 ruling party member of parliament Eduard Aghajanyan reported that 15 Armenian soldiers had been killed, but the next day the Ministry of Defense reported one killed, 13 taken captive, and 24 missing.

The fighting followed weeks of intensifying pressure from Azerbaijan on various fronts, and the conflicting information on casualties only fed the narrative that the current government is incapable of dealing with the serious national security issues the country now faces.

The international reaction, as is often the case, tended to call for an end to the violence without blaming one particular side. Many Armenians saw that as a failure of the country’s diplomats.

One article on the news website 168.am, headlined “Diplomatic disgrace: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proves it doesn’t exist,” described the various international reactions as “both-sidesing” the fighting rather than directly laying responsibility on Azerbaijan.

“The MFA did not manage to get even documentation of an obvious fact from its closest partners at such a difficult stage,” the website wrote. “The topic is being actively discussed on the internet, both by politicians and ordinary people, who describe it as a diplomatic defeat.”

Prominent journalist Tatul Hakobyan, who reported from close to the scene of the fighting on November 17, said on Facebook that “the reaction of the international audience clearly shows that Armenia has no allies.” 

Another journalist, Arshaluys Mghdesyan, posted on Facebook: “Can you remind me of a single structure or country that is clearly condemning Azerbaijan's aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia? How would you assess the work of our Foreign Ministry?”

Recent weeks have seen a renewal of Azerbaijan’s pressure campaign against Armenia, apparently with the aim of forcing Yerevan to sign new agreements on cross-border transportation routes and on formally demarcating their border.

Azerbaijani troops have restricted traffic on two key roads in Armenia, killed a civilian in Karabakh and engaged in multiple skirmishes with Armenian forces.

Meanwhile, Armenian government officials, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, have been emphasizing the positive and trying to sell Armenians on the potential benefits of the new deals, including economic gains from the new trade routes and the chance to finally live in peace with their neighbors.

“We have adopted the agenda of opening an era of peaceful development,” Pashinyan said in a November 7 interview with public television. “We received the mandate to open this era from our people as a result of the snap parliamentary elections.”

To many, though, that message smacks of naïveté in the face of what they see as Azerbaijan’s attempts to intimidate Armenia. “Azerbaijan and Turkey want peace with Armenia, but with an Armenia that is kneeling before them,” Hakobyan said in a recent interview with RFE/RL

The situation is not helped by the Azerbaijani media’s tendency to portray Pashinyan positively, as someone interested in making a deal but thwarted by the revanchist opposition.

If Azerbaijan is trying to use the escalation to force Armenia to sign the agreements, it may be a miscalculation, as the unstable situation leading up to the recent events already has spoiled Pashinyan's attempt to agree to a deal with Azerbaijan.

In October, the well-connected news website Aliq Media reported that the two sides had tentatively reached agreements on transportation and border demarcation and that Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev would sign them on November 9, the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire that ended last year’s fighting.

That date is notorious in Armenia – the ceasefire agreement is seen as a capitulation – and the reports about the potential new deals caused an outcry.

“Pashinyan will sign every disastrous document there is,” said Armen Grigoryan, a documentary filmmaker, in an interview with the TV network Fifth Channel. “After Pashinyan signed the capitulation, if he signs any more documents that will be the end of him.”

Pashinyan later walked out on the deal, Aliq reported.

Following the recent fighting, the political opposition called on the government to step down.

“Nikol Pashinyan's government brings casualties, territorial losses, division and chaos,” the main opposition fraction in parliament, the Armenia Alliance, said in a statement. “The ultimate solution to this situation is the departure of these authorities. Nikol Pashinyan's resignation should be followed by the unification of all possible forces and the formation of a new government.”

Armenians have been further enraged by videos that have spread in social media of Azerbaijani soldiers humiliating Armenian captives.

Another documentary filmmaker who has recently released a film critical of Pashinyan, Hovhannes Iskhanyan, called on the political opposition to topple the government. “Go to cafes, restaurants, cinemas, and call on everyone to remove the Turkish agents [a common epithet for the Armenian government] from Armenia,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

Shortly after the post was published, police arrested Iskhanyan “on suspicion of preparing an attempt to usurp power,” a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison, though formal charges haven’t yet been filed.

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

 

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 18-11-21

Garnik Tadevosian

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 17:28,

YEREVAN, 18 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 November, USD exchange rate up by 0.25 drams to 476.24 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.19 drams to 539.63 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 6.54 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.33 drams to 642.54 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price stood at 28452.14 drams. Silver price stood at 386.72 drams. Platinum price stood at 16741.95 drams.

CivilNet: Ceasefire resumes on Armenia-Azerbaijan border after worst fighting in a year leaves 15 Armenian soldiers dead

Garnik Tadevosian
CIVILNET.AM

17 Nov, 2021 06:11

By Mark Dovich

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russia-brokered ceasefire Tuesday evening, ending the deadliest single outbreak of fighting between the two countries since the end of last year’s war in and around Karabakh.

Tuesday’s clashes left at least 15 Armenian soldiers dead, 12 captured, and four wounded, according to Armenian government sources, which also said that Armenia lost two combat positions near the border.

“Under the mediation of the Russian side, an agreement was reached to cease fire at Armenia’s eastern border,” said the Armenian Defense Ministry in a statement. “The situation has relatively stabilized.”

The Azerbaijani government has neither confirmed the ceasefire nor provided a number of casualties. The Armenian Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijan suffered “heavy losses” in the course of Tuesday’s fighting.

Additionally, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Tuesday evening that Azerbaijani forces now control 41 square kilometers of Armenian territory.

Each side has accused the other of provoking Tuesday’s clashes.

Armenian government sources said that Azerbaijani forces crossed into Armenia near Sev Lake in the southern Syunik region, while the Azerbaijani government said the fighting took place mainly in Kalbajar and Lachin, two areas that Armenia handed over to Azerbaijan as part of last year’s ceasefire agreement. (Armenians also refer to Kalbajar as Karvachar.)

In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the ongoing presence of Azerbaijani troops near Sev Lake, where they have been stationed since May.

“This attack is a continuation of the consistent policy of the Azerbaijani side to occupy the territories of the Republic of Armenia, which began…with the infiltration of the Azerbaijani armed forces into the Syunik and Gegharkunik regions,” the statement said.

Renewed fighting comes amid breakdown of negotiations, rising tensions, and periodic clashes

The fighting followed days of rising tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most recently, Azerbaijan set up additional border checkpoints along a key Armenian road that it partially controls.

The Goris-Kapan highway, built in Soviet times, runs along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and crosses it several times due to the region’s difficult, mountainous geography. It is of crucial importance for Armenia’s security and economy because it provides an overland connection to Iran, a key strategic partner.

Azerbaijan has previously closed off parts of the road to Iranian truckers, sparking a crisis in Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

On Sunday Azerbaijani soldiers advanced into Armenian territory and surrounded four Armenian military posts, according to Armenia’s National Security Council. The Azerbaijani troops reportedly retreated without incident following negotiations. The Armenian government has not stated exactly where Sunday’s incident took place.

Although last year’s ceasefire agreement ended wide-scale hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, tensions remain extremely high, and clashes continue to break out periodically.

Tuesday’s fighting also comes just after the two sides marked the one year anniversary of the end of last year’s war, which left over 6,000 people dead, thousands more injured, and tens of thousands displaced.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were rumored to be preparing to mark the one year anniversary of the war’s end earlier this month by meeting in Russia to sign two key agreements on borders and transport connections.

That meeting did not take place, apparently as a result of negotiations breaking down. Regional media outlets have reported that the biggest sticking point has been the issue of control over future transport connections linking Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The 2020 ceasefire agreement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia stipulates that “all economic and transport connections shall be unblocked,” including an overland connection between the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan (also known as Nakhijevan in Armenia) and mainland Azerbaijan via Syunik.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly referred to such a connection as a “corridor,” suggesting that the route would be under Azerbaijani control. The Armenian government, in turn, has consistently pushed back against Azerbaijan’s demands for control over the connection.

Armenia reaches out to close ally Russia

According to reports by Russian news agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Pashinyan on Tuesday to discuss the situation along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

In a terse statement posted on the Kremlin website, the Russian government said Putin and Pashinyan agreed to “continue contacts.”

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also called his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on Tuesday to urge de-escalation, Russian media reported.

Earlier that day, the Armenian Foreign Ministry called on the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to intervene and help “remove Azerbaijani armed forces” from Armenian territory.

The CSTO is a mutual defense alliance founded in 1994 by Russia, Armenia, and four other post-Soviet states: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The organization’s founding treaty commits signatories to “immediately launch the mechanism of joint consultations” when a member state is faced with a “menace to safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

“We are addressing Russia with a call for protecting the territorial integrity of Armenia. A written request is being prepared,” said Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council. So far, Russia has not publicly responded to the request.

But Stanislav Zas, the head of the CSTO, has previously said that Azerbaijan’s incursions several kilometers deep into the Armenian regions of Gegharkunik and Syunik in May do not fall under the CSTO charter on collective defense.

Russia is Armenia’s main ally and partner on the international stage and deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers to areas in and around Karabakh under the terms of last year’s Armenia-Azerbaijan ceasefire agreement.

Russia also controls a military base in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, and maintains an armed presence along much of Armenia’s borders.

Pashinyan appoints new defense minister

On Monday, just a day before the clashes broke out, Pashinyan announced that he was appointing Suren Papikyan as Armenia’s new defense minister, dismissing Arshak Karapetyan, who had held the position since August.

In a speech to the Security Council, Pashinyan said that “this decision was made as a result of analyzing the developments taking place since yesterday,” referring to Sunday’s incident, when Azerbaijani troops surrounded Armenian military posts.

“The situation led me to a decision that there should be a change of the Minister of Defense,” Pashinyan added.

Papikyan is seen as a close ally of Pashinyan and previously served as the head of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, but has no military experience.

Analyst Benyamin Poghosyan raised the issue of Papikyan’s appointment in a recent column for CivilNet, questioning the timing and motivation behind Pashinyan’s decision. “The reasons for the minister’s dismissal are not clear,” he said.

Poghosyan, who serves as the chairman of the Yerevan-based Center for Political and Strategic Studies, also argued that contradictory messaging from the Security Council and Defense Ministry “continues the policy of providing false information to the public, which was widespread in 2020 during the Artsakh war.”

“This practice directly undermines public confidence in official information,” he said.

“The events that took place in Armenia during the last 30 hours once again raised a number of unanswered questions for the society.”

Heavy fighting breaks out between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Garnik Tadevosian
EurasiaNet.org
Nov 16 2021

At least 15 Armenian soldiers, and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis, have been killed in the worst fighting since last year's war.

Joshua Kucera Nov 16, 2021


Intense fighting has broken out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with casualties heavier than at any time since last year’s war between the two countries.

Armenian sources reported at least 15 soldiers killed and 12 taken prisoner on November 16. Azerbaijan has not acknowledged any of its soldiers killed but the Armenian Ministry of Defense reported that they had inflicted “heavy losses of personnel and materiel” on the other side.

Armenian sources reported that fighting took place on its territory near Sev Lich, the lake in the Syunik region where Azerbaijani soldiers crossed the border in May and have reportedly remained ever since. Azerbaijani sources said most of the fighting took place in the regions of Kelbajar and Lachin.

Armenia was formally appealing to Russia, on the basis of a mutual defense treaty, to come to its assistance.

"Since there has been an attack against the sovereign territory of Armenia, under the 1997 treaty we are addressing Russia with a call for protecting the territorial integrity of Armenia. A written request is being prepared," the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, said in a televised address. There was no immediate Russian response.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense said it was responding to Armenian “large-scale provocations” along a wide stretch of the border and that two Azerbaijani servicemen were wounded. The Armenian MoD responded that Baku was engaging in a “large-scale disinformation campaign” and that “it is more than obvious that it was Azerbaijan that attacked, attacking the Armenian positions using artillery and armored vehicles.”

The president of the European Union, Charles Michel, reported that he had spoken to both Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and called for and “urgent de-escalation and full ceasefire.”

The escalation took place after several days of rising tensions, which had included several exchanges of fire and other confrontations. It followed just a week after the one-year anniversary of the signing of the ceasefire that ended last year’s war, and when the two sides were reportedly close to reaching additional agreements to bolster that ceasefire.

Armenia had reportedly pulled back from signing those agreements, and Baku appeared to be trying to use force to push Yerevan into an agreement.

“Azerbaijan has demonstrated that it is prepared to inflict the final blow against Armenia. For good,” wrote Haqqin.az, a website close to Azerbaijan’s security structures, in a piece headlined “Why Did the War Start?”

“After this, Yerevan will have no alternative to return to the negotiating table,” it concluded.

But Pashinyan, his position already weakened by the precarious security situation in the country, is likely to have his hands tied even further by the heavy casualties.

The foreign ministers of the two countries met just last week in Paris, noted Olesya Vartanyan, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. “No matter what, it is very important to sustain this emerging process. Otherwise, there will be more space for tensions, escalation, or even a new war,” she wrote on Twitter.

https://eurasianet.org/heavy-fighting-breaks-out-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan

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Russian Defense Minister expresses readiness to make maximal efforts for stopping military operations

Garnik Tadevosian

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 19:18,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Suren Papikyan had a telephone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on November 16.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MoD Armenia, during the telephone conversation, the Armenian Defense Minister presented the situation on the eastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border after the provocation of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on November 16. Suren Papikyan emphasized that the invasion of the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia is a gross violation of the provisions of the November 9, 2020 trilateral declaration, which endangers the whole negotiation process.

The Russian Defense Minister expressed readiness to make every effort to end hostilities, return prisoners of war and resolve the situation.

Traffic restores on Stepanakert-Shushi-Berdzor interstate road

Garnik Tadevosian

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 10:21,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Stepanakert-Shuhsi-Berdzor interstate road is currently open on both sides after a shutdown earlier today, the police of the Interior Ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress.

“The free and safe traffic will be ensured by the Russian peacekeeping troops.

The Police of Artsakh will soon provide additional information about the incident that has taken place between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides”, the statement says.

Earlier it was reported that the Stepanakert-Berdzor inter-state road was closed on both sides due to the incident between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. The law enforcement agencies of Artsakh together with the Russian peacekeepers were holding negotiations with the Azerbaijani side to restore the traffic on the road.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Spitak Khach Monastery a target of Azerbaijani propaganda

Garnik Tadevosian
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 8 2021

CULTURE 10:55 08/11/2021 NKR

A video published on an Azerbaijani website on 5 November again showed the "pilgrimage" of the representatives of the Udi community to the Surb Harutyun Church in the town of Hadrut, and the Spitak Khach (White Cross) Monastery in the village of Vank near Hadrut. The current head of the community, Robert Mobilin, and his deputy, Rafik Danakarin, "perform rituals typical of the Aghvan-Udi church" in Armenian churches, Artsakh’s State Service of Historical Environment Protection (Artsakh Monuments) said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

In an interview, Robert Mobilin, speaking about the so-called “damage” that the “Aghvan cultural heritage during the Armenian occupation” allegedly suffered, mentions that the Armenians allegedly put Armenian crosses on the walls of the Aghvan-Udi churches, erected khachkars, Armenian letters were added, erasing Aghvan traces. And he almost always adds that the churches should have their previous appearance, that is, they should not be Armenian, which causes concern. During the interview, Robert Mobilin does not forget to thank the martyrs several times for liberating their "sacred places."

“If Robert Mobilin were a true bearer of values, he would not have participated in such a fraud and would not have become a clown of the Azerbaijani circus,” the Artsakh Monuments said.

“Before the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in September 2020, the Spitak Khach Monastery had to be repaired with the help of an Armenian philanthropist living in Russia, Smbat Abrahamyan. By the beginning of construction work, cleaning and preparatory work was carried out, which is clearly visible on the video,” it said, providing historical data about the monastery.

According to legend, the name of the monastery Spitak Khach (White Cross) is associated with the crystal cross of St. Grigoris. After his martyrdom, his patriarchal rod and crystal cross were originally kept in Amaras, where his remains were buried. After the desolation of Amaras, these relics were transferred to Gtchavank, and the crystal-white cross – to a monastery near Hadrut, from which it was named the White Cross. According to Sargis Jalalyants, a church was built here in honor of this cross, turned it into a bishopric and allocated an independent diocese. And that it became a place of pilgrimage for many Armenian pilgrims. The village got its name Vank from Spitak Khach Vank.

The exact date of the foundation of the monastery is unknown, the earliest inscription dates back to the 14th century, or rather to 1333. The inscription was preserved inside the church, under the khachkar of the northern arch.

Incidentally, the monastery and its surroundings are rich in inscriptions, and these inscriptions speak of the further renovation of the monastery.

The church is a single-nave vaulted hall with a rectangular vestibule adjoining it from the west. Moreover, the narthex and the church are not separated from each other, it has one entrance, which opens from the west. There are two small windows on the west-north side. The inscription on the stone of the western window is also preserved: “God Jesus Christ / Vrdanes T”.

On the roof of the church there is a bell tower with a pyramidal roof, consisting of six columns – a rotunda, the construction protocol of which has been preserved on the south side of the entrance to the church: “… My bell tower in memory of Bishop Hovhannes, the son of Surap."

To the southeast of the church there is a guest house with a preserved inscription at the entrance: “I, Mkrtich, write that this was built in memory of Bishop Hovhannes, the son of Surap.” (1735) Two stone cells have been preserved near the guest house.

In the vicinity of the church there are many gravestones with preserved inscriptions, from which it can be assumed that the monastery was episcopal, since the bodies of bishops are buried here.

It is here that one of the vormnapak (walled) khachkars of Artsakh is located.

Kremlin hails ‘highly important’ 2020 trilateral statement on Nagorno-Karabakh

Garnik Tadevosian
TASS, Russia
Nov 9 2021
Dmitry Peskov stressed the significance of the Russian peacekeepers' and Russian troops' presence in the region in order to guarantee security while monitoring the ceasefire and the return of refugees

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. The trilateral statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue that Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan adopted on November 9, 2020, is highly important, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We view the documents adopted a year ago as highly important both for Azerbaijan and Armenia, they made it possible to end the war and adopt a path of peacefully developing the regional economy and infrastructure," he pointed out in response to a question.

"Russian peacekeepers and Russian troops continue to perform their functions [in the region], guaranteeing security while monitoring the ceasefire and the return of refugees. It is highly important. This is why the significance of these documents cannot be overestimated," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.

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. According to the document, Azerbaijan and Armenia maintained the positions that they had held, while a number of districts were handed over to Baku, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin Corridor. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stabilized following the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, and tens of thousands of local residents returned to the homes that they had left during the hostilities.