The Ministry of Defense announced the deaths in clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenian and Azerbaijani servicemen were injured as a result of ceasefire violations in the Mardakert and Martuni regions of Nagorno-Karabakh, and there are also deaths from both sides. This is stated in the information bulletin of the Ministry of Defense on the activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, transmits TASS.

“Five violations of the ceasefire regime were recorded in the Mardakert and Martuni regions, as a result of which there were killed and wounded from the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides,” the statement said. Russian peacekeepers, together with representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan, are conducting an investigation into the incident.

On June 28, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington. During the talks, they discussed the process of normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan. The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of undermining efforts for a peaceful settlement.

The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in September 2020, when hostilities began in the region between the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result, a tripartite statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan. Hostilities ceased in the conflict zone, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor.

In 2022, the situation escalated again, and the State Border Service of Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, on the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

On May 25 of this year, Pashinyan and Aliyev, mediated by Putin, discussed the relations between the two countries in the Kremlin, but did not adopt a joint statement at the end of the day. Aliyev at the same time thanked President of Russia for Moscow’s efforts in normalizing relations between Baku and Yerevan. According to Aliyev, after Armenia’s statements on the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the issue of agreeing on the points of the peace treaty will go “much easier.”