Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry has warned Armenia that its soldiers will open return fire if Armenian forces do not stop breaking the ceasefire.
The warning comes after an Azerbaijani soldier, Farrukh Sabir oglu Zeynalov, was wounded yesterday by fire from the Armenian side of the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, APA reported.
Before the 27 October negotiations of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, mediated by Russia, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry instructed its soldiers to observe the ceasefire and not retaliate, the ministry said.
"Despite this, the opposite side is violating the ceasefire and increasing tension. The Armenian armed forces fired on our positions in several sections of the front-line in the past 24 hours and a soldier of the Azerbaijani Army [Farrukh Zeynalov] was wounded at 16.20 [11.20 GMT] on 31 October. But the Azerbaijani Armed Forces observed the order and didn’t open return fire. Armenia must understand that it is unacceptable to use this situation and if the mutual understanding is not observed, the Azerbaijani side will be forced to open return fire.”
The call of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian presidents for a reduction in tension along the contact line would appear to have had little effect. The need to reduce tension was noted in a declaration signed by the three leaders following their talks on 27 October.
"The settlement of the conflict by political and diplomatic means requires further effort to reinforce the cease-fire regime and confidence-building measures in the military sphere," the declaration said.
One Azerbaijani was killed and another wounded by Armenian fire in separate incidents on 28 October.
The Armenian side has, in turn, accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire. On Saturday, the army of the unrecognized Karabakh republic said that Azerbaijan had broken the ceasefire on 165 occasions between 24 and 30 October.
It said that Karabakh soldier Harut Grigoryan died from wounds received in an Azerbaijani attack on 26 October, PanARMENIAN.net reported.
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