Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, starting from today, Saturday at 12:00 P.M, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia acted as an intermediary between the conflicting countries gathering the two counterparts in a meeting with Lavrov in the Russian capital on Friday.
Lavrov announced the agreement just before 03:00 Moscow time (midnight GMT), following 10 hours of talks in the Russian capital, adding that the two countries would now begin "substantive" talks in order to settle the conflict.
He also mentioned that hostilities will be halted from midday on Saturday, "on humanitarian grounds for exchanging POWs and other detained persons and dead bodies," indicating that the International Committee of the Red Cross will act as an intermediary in the humanitarian operation.
Russia’s top diplomat did not provide details on the talks; however, he claimed that representatives from France, Russia and the United States, known as the Minsk Group (OSCE) would mediate, calling for substantial negotiations to reach a peaceful settlement.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov have also chosen not to mention any further details to reporters.
The Moscow talks are the first diplomatic contact between the two parties since the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict broke out on September 27.
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