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Stepanakert ready to discuss ceasefire proposal, made by Azerbaijan earlier on April 3, provided that Azerbaijani armed forces return to the situation that existed prior to April 2 offensive, the Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic announced in a written statement.

The full text of the statement below:

The statement disseminated by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense about unilateral cessation of armed hostilities is a piece of misinformation.

In the night of April 1-2 the Azerbaijani side initiated a large scale offensive against Nagorno Karabakh using almost all types of military equipment in their arsenal. Moreover, after the abovementioned statement had been released, Armenian civilian inhabited areas and, in particular, the city of Mardakert were shelled with MM-21 (Grad) Multiple Launch Rocket System and 152 MM artillery ammunition.

These facts, as well as terms like “counter offensive actions” and “strengthening of liberated territories” used in the statement show the false grounds of the document, which has the more real purpose of an imitated cessation of hostilities full of manifest preconditions.

The Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is ready to meet this halfway and discuss the proposal for establishing ceasefire in the context of return to the prior positions.