Monday, July 13 2020 18:05

ArmInfo.The Russian Foreign Ministry presented the details of a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov.

Thus, the message of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in particular,  states:

"Separate telephone conversations of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey  Lavrov with Armenian Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and  Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov were held. The escalation of the  situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was discussed. Lavrov  called on the parties to cease fire immediately, to exercise  restraint in light of the commitments made, as well as proposals made  by the representatives of Russia, the United States and France as  co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and Personal Representative of the  OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

It was emphasized that Russia will continue to fulfill its mediation  mission in contacts with Baku and Yerevan, both in its national  capacity and as part of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.  The Russian side also noted the importance of all members of the  Minsk Group taking a responsible approach in assessing the current  situation and avoiding statements and actions that could provoke an  additional increase in tension. "

To note, yesterday at about around 12:30 pm, the Azerbaijani Armed  Forces, for reasons unknown to the Armenian side, attempted to  violate the state border of the Republic of Armenia in the Tavush  direction by <UAZ> car. After the Armenian side warned them, the  enemy troops left the "UAZ" car, returned to their positions.  At  1:45 pm, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, using artillery fire, tried to  capture the Armenian stronghold, but were thrown back by the fire,  incurring loss of manpower. There are no losses from the Armenian  side.  At the evening, the enemy resumed shelling of Armenian  positions, in the direction of a strong point that had not previously  been captured. All night the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired  intensively using 82 mm mortars and tanks at the aforementioned  strong point.  As it became known, in the morning, after two or three  hours of calm, the enemy resumed provocative actions at the Armenian-  Azerbaijani state border in the Tavush direction, and continued  shelling of Armenian positions.

The Armenian side warned the enemy that all responsibility for  further aggravation of the situation would fall on the  military-political leadership of Azerbaijan.  According to an  official statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of  Azerbaijan, during the incident yesterday, three servicemen of the  Azerbaijani army were killed and four were injured. But, the media is  already circulating information about 17 killed Azerbaijani soldiers.  The Azerbaijani authorities are trying to shift the responsibility  for the situation to the Armenian side, and baselessly accuse Yerevan  of trying to involve a third party in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  The AR Ministry of Defense also reports a violation of the ceasefire  in the direction of Nakhichevan.

According to the latest data from the Armenian side, the Armenian  Armed Forces have no casualties, however, two policemen and three  military personnel were injured.

The situation is still tense, the enemy fired at the Chinari border  community with mortar shells, there were no civilian casualties, but  the building was damaged.  

It is also worth noting that in this situation, the Turkish side  took an active position, expressing unconditional support for Baku,  which were reflected in two statements by the Turkish Foreign  Ministry.  Moreover, the second statement was made by the Turkish  Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the air of TRT Haber.  He noted  that Turkey, using all the opportunities, will support Azerbaijan.  "Let Armenia come to its sense," Cavusoglu said.