Panic moods in Azerbaijan cannot be hidden anymore. Azerbaijanis accuse their leadership in social networks in connection with the losses sustained during the actions on the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. As “Armenpress” reports, one Azerbaijani social network user wrote that Azerbaijan’s armed forces have lost 100 soldiers in recent clashes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the escalation of tension in Nagorno Karabakh with Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, reports Ria Novosti. Urges were made to stop the use of force in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone.
President Serzh Sargsyan summoned the National Security Council which will take place in the evening of April 2. The agenda is focused on the offensive military actions by Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line, and relevant issues, 168.am was informed by the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of the Presidential Administration.
Scores of veterans and young people gathered in front of the Artsakh Union of Freedom Fighters building in the early morning of April 2, requesting to immediately head to the frontline. In an interview with “Artsakhpress”, representative of the Union Alvaro Shekyan said that hundreds of volunteer fighters have already registered to leave to the frontline now.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova announced that Russia is consulting with its partners, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. “We are following the developments of the situation”, Zakharova said.
The “Yerkrapah” Volunteer Union is hundred percent ready to perform its duties. The press secretary of the “Yerkrapah” Volunteer Union informed their official position in an interview with “Armenpress”. He assured that the “Yerkrapah” Volunteer Union President Manvel Grigoryan is cooperating and being assigned tasks by the Supreme Commanders of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, and gives assignments within the organizations headed by him.”
The two children wounded as a result of Azerbaijan shelling civilian settlements are in a critical but stable condition, Chief physician at “Arevik” Children’s Hospital in Stepanakert Hovsep Margaryan told.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about the military operations on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan. As reports Ria Novosti”, the Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “President Putin has called on the conflicting parties to immediately cease fire and to exercise restraint,” Peskov said.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians, has run its own affairs with heavy military and financial backing from Armenia since a separatist war ended in 1994.
TV pictures showed a burned out vehicle and craters after a night of gunfire and heavy shelling.
