According to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Russia has a special role in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will carry out peacekeeping tasks in Karabakh jointly with Turkey. The Azerbaijani president also said that Armenia has to return the Kalbajar district to Azerbaijan by November 15 and the Lachin district by December 1, while Agdam must be returned to Azerbaijani control by November 20. Baku and Yerevan have to exchange prisoners as well as the deceased, he also noted.
Russian peacekeepers will remain in Nagorno-Karabakh for five years, with automatic extension by five-year terms, if Baku and Yerevan agree.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian peacekeeping contingent of 1,960 servicemen is being deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and the Lachin corridor and will include 90 armored personnel carriers and 380 items of equipment.
The agreement on cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh puts an end to the settlement of the conflict in the unrecognized republic, Azerbaijani President Aliyev said.
"I am very happy that today an end is being put in the settlement of the years-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, an end to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands," Aliyev told Russian President Vladimir Putin during the ceremony of signing an agreement on truce in Karabakh, broadcast by Azeri television channel AzTV.
"By agreeing on important positions, which took more than one hour and more than one day, we reached a settlement, which, I believe, meets the interests of the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the countries of the region," he said.
Aliyev called the new ceasefire agreement historic and said it would end bloodshed and lead to a long-lasting peace.
Earlier, the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement on the cessation of hostilities in Karabakh.
"A Russian peacekeeping contingent is being deployed along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia," Putin said in a statement broadcast on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
A military confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan along the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted on September 27. Coming after the escalation, Yerevan declared martial law and - for the first time - general mobilisation, while partial mobilisation was introduced by Baku.
