Karabakh President urges Minsk Group to curb Baku’s violence

PanARMENIAN.Net - Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) President Bako Sahakyan on Thursday, April 7 met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France), James Warlick (U.S.), and the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The meeting addressed issues related to the large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Karabakh. President Sahakyan cited Azerbaijan’s aggression as one of the greatest perils to stability and peace in the South Caucasus, also characterizing it as a serious challenge to the civilized world.

In addition, Sahakyan stressed that the Artsakh Defense Army averted and would always prevent any encroachment on Karabakh’s independence, sovereignty and security, adding that he expects the OSCE Minsk Group to issue tough and targeted response and take steps against the destructive policy of Azerbaijan.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 44 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 122 were wounded in the course of military operations.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.