Armenia and Azerbaijan Announced End of War

By agreement of the Parties, it is to be provided the construction of new transport communications aimed at linking the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic the western Azerbaijan regions. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a statement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. On Tuesday, November 10, the head of the Armenian government posted a message about on his Facebook page. According to the Armenian Prime Minister, the decision was difficult and the text of the already officially published document is "incredibly painful" for the Armenian people. Pashinyan noted that he made a decision to end hostilities after analyzing the military situation. "This is not a victory but there is no defeat until you find it out yourself. We will never know ourselves and this should be the beginning of our national unity, the era of renaissance. We need to analyze our years of independence in order to plan our future and not repeat the mistakes of the past," he wrote on Facebook. At the same time, Sputnik Armenia published the text of the joint statement of the heads of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. G. Aliyev, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia N. V. Pashinyan and the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin, have declared the following: A complete ceasefire and all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone are announced from 00:00 Moscow time on November 10, 2020. The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, hereinafter referred to as the Parties, stop at their positions. The Aghdam region and the territories held by the Armenian Party in the Gazakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall be returned to the Azerbaijan Party until November 20, 2020. Along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor, the Russian Federation is deploying its peacekeeping contingent in the amount of 1,960 servicemen with small arms, 90 armored personnel carriers, 380 units of automobile and special equipment. The peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is being deployed in parallel with the Armenian armed forces withdrawal. The Russian Federation peacekeeping contingent’s duration of the stay is 5 years, with automatic extension for the next 5-year periods, if none of the Parties declares 6 months before the expiration of the period of intention to terminate the application of this provision. In order to increase the effectiveness of control over the implementation of the agreements by the Parties to the conflict, a peacekeeping center to control the ceasefire is being deployed. The Republic of Armenia will return the Kelbajar region to the Republic of Azerbaijan by November 15, 2020, and the Lachin region by December 1, 2020, while leaving behind the Lachin Corridor (5 km wide), which will ensure the connection of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and will not affect the city of Shusha. By agreement of the Parties, a plan for the construction of a new traffic route along the Lachin Corridor will be determined in the next three years, providing communication between Stepanakert and Armenia, with the subsequent redeployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to protect this route. The Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees traffic safety of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions along the Lachin Corridor. Internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas under the control of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Exchange of prisoners of war and other detainees and bodies of the dead. All economic and transport links in the region are unblocked. The Republic of Armenia provides transport links between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic in order to organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions. Transport control is exercised by the bodies of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia. Earlier, the opposition parties of Armenia stated that the responsibility for the military defeat of Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh lies with the Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol Pashinyan and the government he is heading.