Russia accuses Azerbaijan of violation of ceasefire agreement with Armenia

On March 25th, a unit of Azerbaijan's armed forces crossed the contact line on the Shusha district, violating the November 9th 2020 deal, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

He said Russian peacekeepers are taking measures aimed at preventing bilateral escalation and provocations.

Earlier Saturday, Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said it has taken control of several auxiliary routes in its breakaway majority Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, for which it has conducted two wars with the permanent enemy Armenia.

The ministry said the necessary search measures were implemented by Azerbaijani Army units to prevent the use of roads north of Lachin for weapons supplies from Armenia.

The only route linking Karabakh and Armenia, the Lachin corridor, has been under months of blockade from Azerbaijan, which Yerevan says has led to a humanitarian crisis in enclaves.

Repeated shots have erupted along the Armenian-Azerbaijan border and in Karabakh since a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended six-week fighting in the fall of 2020.

Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikola Pasinyan warned against a very high escalation risk “in Karabakh.

Armenia has also accused Russian peacekeepers of failing to protect ethnic Armenians living in the troubled region.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh left Azerbaijan. The conflict that followed claimed about 30,000 lives. /abcnews. al