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Putin mulls Karabakh conflict with Russia’s Security Council (UPDATE)

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 8 April 2016 17:17 (UTC +04:00)
Russian President Vladimir Putin held an operative meeting with the permanent members of Russia’s Security Council
Putin mulls Karabakh conflict with Russia’s Security Council (UPDATE)

Details added (first version posted on 16:20)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 8

Trend:

Russian President Vladimir Putin held an operative meeting with the permanent members of Russia's Security Council, TASS quoted the Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Apr. 8.

"Participating in the meeting were the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Naryshkin, Chief of the Kremlin's administration Sergei Ivanov, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, and Head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov," said Peskov.

The meeting discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement within the context of the efforts recently taken by the Russian side, he added.

Current pressing domestic and international issues were also touched upon and a detailed discussion was held on the process of forming Russia's National Guard, noted Peskov.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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