Over 500 refugees return to Nagorno-Karabakh over past 24 hours
The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported that 566 refugees had been brought to Stepanakert by buses from Yerevan, accompanied by patrols of Russian peacemakers and military policemen.
By December 13, the number of returnees from Yerevan to Stepanakert had exceeded 38,000.
In his turn, Zhirair Mirzoyan, a Karabakh Minister, has noted that Russia had accounted not all the returned refugees, since about 30,000 of them left Armenia unaccompanied by peacemakers.
According to Russian authorities, more than 39,700 refugees have already returned to Nagorno-Karabakh to their permanent residences.
Let us remind you that on December 11 and 12, the refugees' return took place amid the first ceasefire violation since the armistice. According to Nagorno-Karabakh's MoD, the Azerbaijani military attacked two Armenian villages in the Gadrut District, which occurred inside the enclave – the villages of Khtsaberd (the Azeri name is Chailakkala) and Khin Takher (In Takhlar). Three Karabakh soldiers were wounded. Azerbaijan has declared the incident to be a forced antiterrorist operation.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 15, 2020 at 08:59 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.