France, Armenia discuss Nagorno-Karabakh situation

Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian have held phone talks discussing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, where a new humanitarian ceasefire has taken effect, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian have held phone talks discussing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, where a new humtarian ceasefire has taken effect, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"During the talks, Mnatsakanyan highly appreciated the personal contribution of French President Emmanuel Macron to reaching a ceasefire agreement, noting that the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan has once again refused to fulfill its obligations and continues a large-scale military aggression against [Republic of] Artsakh [aka Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh]," the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday (local time).

The ministry reiterated Armenia's commitment to the ceasefire agreement and a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Last week, talks were held between the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia with the aim of reaching a Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement. The Moscow meeting resulted in a humtarian ceasefire that came into force on October 10. However, the ceasefire did not hold. A new truce has since been agreed upon. It came into effect at midnight local time on Saturday, October 17 (20:00 GMT), but both sides have reported violations.

On Sunday, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that the UN chief was expecting the conflicting sides in Nagorno-Karabakh to fully abide by the commitments under the most recent humtarian truce and to immediately resume substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE (Orgzation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Minsk Group. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )