Baku, Azerbaijan, July 6
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Another ceasefire violation took place in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and there are civilian casualties, including a child, as the result of the violation, Spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing July 6.
She was commenting on the recent Armenian provocation on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district.
As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.
“We express our condolences to the families of the deceased and consider further bloodshed unacceptable,” Zakharova said. “We urge the parties [of the conflict] to stabilize the situation.”
Russia fully supports the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group, which stresses the need to end the violence, she added.
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.