Nagorno-Karabakh Updates: Baku Claims Its Drones Destroyed Armenian Military Equipment Worth $1Bn

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Switzerland's RTS broadcaster that France and the United States must support Russia's reconciliation efforts on crisis-torn Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I believe that Russia as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group must play an even more significant role, including the restoration of stability and peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. I would like to stress that while Russia is the closest co-chair [of the OSCE Minsk Group] to this region, two other co-chairs – France and the United States – must support the Russian efforts on stabilising the situation in the region", Pashinyan said on late Thursday.

The prime minister also pointed out that the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) had expressed its readiness to fulfil its allied obligations toward Armenia in case of the further deterioration of the situation in the region.

Rejecting gossips regarding Iranian border guards’ reciprocation, he said Iranian citizens' security and calmness at border areas is considered as a redline for armed forces. #Iran will not be indifferent if such accidents happen again

— IranGov.ir (@Iran_GOV) October 15, 2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Thursday that Turkey is amplifying the risks of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by supplying weapons to Azerbaijan and reiterated his call for a ceasefire.

“It is dangerous. We now have the Turks, who have stepped in and provided resources to Azerbaijan, increasing the risk, increasing the firepower that’s taking place in this historic fight over this place called Nagorno-Karabakh, a small territory with about 150,000 people,“ Pompeo said.

Pompeo stressed that the longstanding conflict should only be resolved through peaceful talks, not through armed conflict, “and certainly not with third party countries coming in to lend their firepower to what is already a powder keg of a situation.”

“We’re hopeful that the Armenians will be able to defend against what the Azerbaijanis are doing, and that they will all, before that takes place, get the ceasefire right, and then sit down at the table and try and sort through this – that is – what is a truly historic and complicated problem set,” the secretary added.

President Arayik Harutyunyan of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) ordered on Thursday for certain restrictions of movements within the territory and outside of it for conscripts.

"Departure is limited for citizens of the Republic of Artsakh who are subject to mobilization conscription and is allowed in exceptional cases under a pass issued by a commandant," Harutyunyan said pm Facebook.

The chief of the national service for emergencies, Karen Sarkissyan, was appointed commandant and given the authority to adjust movement regulations in separate regions of Nagorno-Karabakh as appropriate.

Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Stanislav Zas said on Thursday that the organisation is actively negotiating the potential peacekeeping effort in the conflict-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"We are actively discussing the work for peace in the region," the CSTO chief said.

BAKU (Sputnik) - The number of Azerbaijani civilians killed in clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh has climbed to 43, while the number of injured civilians has grown to 218, the Prosecutor General's Office said on Thursday.

"The number of Azerbaijani civilians killed in clashes in Karabakh totals 43, 218 people were injured, 1,592 houses and 290 civilian facilities were destroyed, 79 apartment blocks became uninhabitable", the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.

"We have no mercenaries. This is our official statement. More than two weeks have passed since the clashes began, and no country has provided us with any evidence on the issue. Moreover, we do not need them. We have an army of more than 100,000 fighters. Everything we do today on the battlefield shows that our army is capable of liberating our lands", Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the TV channel France 24.