After the negotiations in Moscow, Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to a ceasefire

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a statement following the negotiations that a ceasefire would start "from 12:00 pm on October 10, 2020 for humanitarian purposes."

Later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained to AFP that the ceasefire would start at noon on Saturday.

Lavrov indicated that the ceasefire would allow "the exchange of prisoners of war and other persons and dead bodies in accordance with the standards of the Red Cross Committee."

Armenia and Azerbaijan have also agreed to start "substantive negotiations" to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, according to what the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday.

In a statement following the negotiations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Azerbaijan and Armenia "will initiate, through the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, substantial negotiations with the aim of reaching a peaceful settlement" of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh.

Fighting erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan late last month in an effort to control the disputed territory, which declared its independence from Azerbaijan after a war in the 1990s.

The two sides have repeatedly ignored the increasing calls to stop the fighting, which has killed about 400 people, including dozens of civilians, while Azerbaijan stated that it is determined to restore the region, whose population is the majority Armenians.

T/S

ANHA