Karabakh

Republic of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday the agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh coming into effect at 00.00 on Sunday, October 18.

Iran Press/ Asia: "The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia have agreed to a humanitarian truce as of October 18th, 00h00 local time," Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on the ministry’s website.

The foreign ministries of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan said they had agreed to declare a "humanitarian truce" from midnight Sunday, after nearly three weeks of fighting over a disputed region.

It will be the warring sides' second attempt to declare a ceasefire to quell almost three weeks of clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that have killed hundreds of people.

"The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have agreed to a humanitarian truce as of October 18, 00:00 local time," Armenia's foreign ministry confirmed the move in an identical statement late Saturday.

The announcement came after Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov held phone talks with his counterparts from Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and stressed the need to strictly follow a ceasefire deal agreed in Moscow last Saturday, the foreign ministry said.

The ministers also confirmed the importance of beginning "substantive" talks to settle the conflict, the ministry in Moscow said.

Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan had last Saturday agreed to a ceasefire after 11 hours of talks mediated by Lavrov in Moscow, but then both accused each other of violating the deal.

According to an official, but partial, toll more than 700 people have been killed in the clashes.

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