Azerbaijanis wave flags in the streets of the capital Baku on Tuesday after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire following a string of Azerbaijani victories in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian peacekeepers headed to the disputed Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday after Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to a ceasefire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday night in a televised address that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and he had signed a statement on Monday declaring a “complete cessation of fire and all hostilities” in Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to stop at their positions they have held, Putin said.
Russia has started deploying 1,960 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Defense Ministry was quoted by local media as saying on Tuesday.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent being deployed consists of 1,960 military personnel, 90 armored personnel carriers, 380 vehicles and pieces of special equipment, the ministry said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia will exchange war prisoners, other detained persons and bodies of the dead, while all economic and transport links of the region will be unblocked, according to the Russian leader.
Internally displaced persons and refugees will return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding areas under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Putin said.
“We presume that the agreements will create the necessary conditions for a long-term and full-format settlement of the crisis around Nagorno-Karabakh on a just basis and in the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples,” he said.
(Agencies)