Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 2
Trend:
President Vladimir Putin is deeply concerned about the reports of the renewed military actions along the contact line in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, TASS news agency quoted the Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Apr. 2.
Putin called on the conflict sides to immediately cease fire, according to the Kremlin spokesman.
On the night of April 2, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns.
Azerbaijani settlements near the contact line, densely populated by civilians, were fired at as well. Civilians were killed and wounded as a result of the Armenian attacks.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.