“According to our information received from various sources Azerbaijan opened fired on a military facility in the opposite side of the contact line on May 15, which was properly retaliated by the other side. I have reiterated the position of Russia on this issue many times,” Zakharova stressed.
The Co-Chairs condemn these recent ceasefire violations and call upon the sides to take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation in the conict zone.
“Yes, we don’t want maintenance of status-quo, and don’t want the next generation to bear the burden of the conflict settlement, and our joint efforts together with the Co-Chairing countries on the conflict settlement are directed towards this,” the President said.
“On May 17 and overnight May 18 the Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime over 60 times by firing more than 650 shots from various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact.”
In response to Azerbaijan’s heavy ceasefire violations overnight May 16 – May 17, Artsakh’s military took suppressive actions which resulted in Azerabaijani forces suffering manpower losses, according to credible data of the Defense Army.
“What would happen, if not that agreement? War would be recorded. I understand, you may ask if there is an agreement, why we have casualties and what the international community does. If not the agreement, war would be recorded, and in that case not this much casualties, but even more. This agreement should be observed as a restrictive factor. Yes, it doesn’t solve the main issue, however, it prevents a wide-scale war.”
“Azerbaijan’s another propaganda fiction stating that the Armenian side wanted to shoot down the helicopter of the country’s defense minister, was also “commented” on by the military agitprop with a typical primitivism, serving the personal interests of Hasanov.”
In addition, the Azerbaijani forces also fired 82 mm (4 shells) and 120 mm (17 shells) mortars at the eastern direction, 60 mm (4 shells) and 82 mm (15 shells) mortars at the north-eastern direction of the line of contact, as well as anti-tank grenade launcher (5 grenades).
“Fortunately no one was hurt, also we didn’t lose important military hardware. Azerbaijan’s action is not only a display of aggression against Artsakh, but also against the entire civilized world.”
Azerbaijani forces made over 55 ceasefire breaches in the Artsakh line of contact on May 15 and overnight May 16, firing more than 1200 shots from various caliber firearms at Artsakh’s military Azerbaijani troops also fires 60mm mortars (3 shells) and anti-tank grenade launchers (9 shells) in various parts of the line of contact. In the eastern direction, Azerbaijan fired a SPIKE anti-tank guided missile, partially damaging a military hardware.
