Moscow-Sana
The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have signed a joint declaration on a ceasefire in the Nagorno Karabakh region disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
In a speech reported by Russia today, the Russian President said that the ceasefire will take effect from midnight, Moscow time, explaining that "the declaration stipulates that the Armenian and Azeri forces will stop at their current locations and the Russian peacekeepers will be deployed."
Putin pointed out that "the agreement also includes lifting restrictions on the movement of transport, transit and the exchange of prisoners between the two parties to the conflict and the return of displaced persons under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees."
He said that the agreement reached between Moscow, Baku and Yerevan will allow the dispute to be settled on a just basis and in a way that serves the interests of the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples and will provide the necessary conditions for a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the conflict.
In turn, Aliyev expressed his satisfaction with putting the "last point" in the settlement of the conflict, noting that the agreement reached is in the interest of Baku and Yerevan, describing the joint declaration as "historic."
For his part, Pashinyan said that he took this decision "based on a deep analysis of the military situation," stressing that this decision is based on ... "the conviction that this is the possible solution to the situation that has formed so far."
On the fourth of this month, the Russian president confirmed that Russia is doing everything it can to end the Karabakh conflict as quickly as possible and said during a meeting with representatives of Russian religious societies, "The situation in Karabakh could have been resolved peacefully without resorting to arms." Russia is in contact with Armenia and Azerbaijan about Karabakh and hopes that results will be found that suit everyone.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced sending Russian peace-keeping forces to the region after the signing of the agreement, and said in a statement that .. "The Russian peacekeeping unit includes 1960 soldiers, 90 armored personnel carriers and 380 pieces of equipment."
And it indicated in its statement that the soldiers moved to Nagorny Karabakh now via the "Il-76" plane from Ulyanovsk airport, and military equipment and vehicles also moved to the region.
It is noteworthy that armed clashes have erupted between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces since the 27th of last September on the line of contact in Nagorny Karabakh and the adjacent areas in the most dangerous escalation between the two parties in nearly three decades, amid mutual accusations of starting the fighting.