The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan says the statement made by the Russian Defense Ministry on March 27 about the events in Karabakh is not true, and the village of Farukh is still controlled by the Azerbaijani military.
Baku says the Azerbaijani side has not changed positions on the village of Farukh and the surrounding heights, and they are still controlled by the Azerbaijani side.
“The information about the withdrawal of Azerbaijani army units from these positions is not true. The Azerbaijani army is in full control of the operational situation,” Baku said.
Baku says it is not true that Azerbaijan has violated the ceasefire agreement, and it is also a lie that the Azerbaijani side has casualties.
In a March 27 statement, as in a previous statement, Baku reiterated to Russia that there is no administrative or territorial entity of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
The statement said that the positions of the Russian side do not respect the agreement reached between the two countries on February 22, by which the countries respect each other’s sovereignty and join forces to fight terrorism, extremism and separatism.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry says on March 24, at around 16:00, Azerbaijani armed forces crossed the line of contact and occupied the village of Farukh, which had previously been controlled by the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic. The Azerbaijani side responded by saying that the reports of the Armenian side about the escalation, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is placed, were not true.
Moscow responded to the incident on March 26. The Russian side said the Azerbaijani troops “inflicted four shots on the Karabakh units in the settlement of Farukh with unmanned aerial vehicles of Bayraktar TB2”.
Later, the Azerbaijani side confirmed that the village was controlled by Baku.
An official in Moscow said the Russian peacekeeping contingent was working to resolve the situation and return the troops to the starting point.
The Azerbaijani side denies leaving the village.
A state of war has been declared in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh “Republic.” The decree was signed by its “president,” Arayik Harutyunyan.
Three were reportedly killed and several Armenian servicemen were wounded in a clash with Azerbaijani troops. Yerevan accused Baku of violating the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
For its part, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry accused Armenia of “attempting to mislead the international community.”
By Ana Dumbadze
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