Unexploded bombs in Artsakh

Azerbaijani Attacks Intensify in Wake of Collapsed Peace Talks

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Azerbaijan resumed hostilities along the Artsakh frontline early in the morning, representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan said at a briefing hosted by the Armenian Unified Infocenter on October 12.

According to him, the Azerbaijani military launched offensives in serveral directions, using heavy artillery in the direction of Martakert. Throughout the day, the air force of Azerbaijan, with the support of the Turkish air force and command points and using combat UAVs, carried out 36 flights, during which the Artsakh forces managed to destroy one Su-25 fighter jet in the northern direction.

In Hovhannisyan’s words, the hostilities continued in the southern front during the day with the use of armored vehicles, artillery and other means.

“The subversive-reconnaissance infiltration attempts in the direction of the town of Hadrut were thwarted and the enemy was pushed back. Hadrut is under the full control of our armed forces. As a rule, the combat actions continue until late at night. During the night the operations relatively decline, with the enemy regrouping its forces to resume the offensives in the morning,” he said.

The spokesman stressed that Azerbaijan absolutely does not respect the agreements reached in Moscow on October 10 and has no plans to do it.

“The statements of the Azerbaijani leadership that they were ready to implement the agreements are a complete lie. For some reason, they are constantly trying to destabilize the situation and provoke hostilities,” he said.

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  • Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan of Armenia on October 12 lauded the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held in Moscow as “constructive.”

Speaking at a joint news conference with the Russian official, Mnatsakanyan said they had discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

“There is a high mutual understanding on all the issues on the agenda, which testifies to the high level of Armenian-Russian partnership,” he said, praising the fact that his official visit to Moscow planned earlier took place despite the problems in the region.

Mnatsakanyan stressed that he highly appreciates Russia’s mediation efforts in the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially in the elaboration of October 9 ceasefire agreements for humanitarian purposes.

The Armenian foreign policy chief emphasized that the Armenian-Russian partnership includes all spheres of life, adding there is a dynamic dialogue in all those sectors.

At the meeting with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Russia, the issue of intensifying high-level bilateral contacts and meetings in accordance with the Armenian-Russian partnership and allied relations was emphasized.

“Russia is Armenia’s leading economic partner, the level of bilateral trade remains high even in the face of economic instability and declining trade and economic indicators due to the coronavirus pandemic,” Mnatsakanyan said.

Lavrov also spoke about contacts with the Turkish government.

“Responding to the question about contacts with our Turkish colleagues, I got in touch with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and informed him that we count on support for our efforts. On Sunday, we had another telephone conversation, during which support for the Moscow document was confirmed,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of considering some new formats of settlement talks, Lavrov recalled that the joint statement made by the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers “confirmed that the formats of the negotiation process of the OSCE Minsk Group remained unchanged.”

“This is a fairly large group of countries, but it has delegated the powers to conduct negotiations and the powers of mediation to three co-chairs – Russia, the United States and France. As a matter of fact, those statements that were heard from world capitals over the past few days emphasized the commitment to the mandate of the three co-chairs <…> whose special representatives are in Moscow,” Lavrov stressed.

He added that Mnatsakanyan would have a meeting with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chairs later in the day. Last Thursday, the co-chairs met in Geneva with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. Lavrov stressed that the agreements reached in Moscow were also welcomed by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

 

  • The mining specialists of the State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh continue the works to discover and neutralize the unexploded bombs and mines.

As Armenpress was informed from the State Service, only in Stepanakert they have already discovered 673 missiles, bombs and cluster explosives of Turkish and Israeli production.

By the instruction of the Head of the State Service Colonel Karen Sargsyan, the unexploded ammunition has been taken out of Stepanakert and neutralized in a safe zone.

  • Spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference on October 12 that the Azerbaijani side suffered nearly 200 deaths on October 12.

“During the last hours 3 UAVs, 1 warplane and 3 armored vehicles were destroyed. The manpower losses of Azerbaijan is nearly 200’,” Hovhannisyan said.

Hovhannisyan mentioned that when publishing the losses of the Azerbaijani side, they mention only the number of destroyed equipment, while those captured from them undamaged are not listed.

So far Armenia has reported 525 military casualties. Azerbaijan keeps secret the number of casualties, but according to the Armenian side, Azerbaijan has suffered nearly 5000 casualties, including regular army servicemen and terrorists.

(Panorama.am and Armenpress contributed to this report.)

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