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Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order to create an interdepartmental humanitarian response center in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the Kremlin press service reported on Friday. The executive order reads as follows:

"In order to promote the resolution of humanitarian issues and to rebuild civil infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh, I hereby resolve to:

1. Create an Interdepartmental Humanitarian Response Center (hereinafter referred to as the Interdepartmental Center).

2. Establish that:

a) the Interdepartmental Center shall have the following main functions:

facilitating the return to their homes of people who left the Nagorno-Karabakh regions.

helping state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia to restore civil infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh and create proper conditions for its people to live a normal life;

ensuring coordination of the activities of Russia’s state bodies and public organisations to provide humanitarian aid to residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh regions affected by the hostilities;

providing assistance to state bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia in organising interaction with international humanitarian organisations;

b) the Interdepartmental Center shall include representatives of the Russian Federation Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Natural Disaster Relief, the Russian Federation Foreign Ministry and the Russian Federation Federal Security Service, as well as representatives of other concerned federal executive bodies.

3. The decision of organisational and other matters related to the creation and operation of the Interdepartmental Centre shall be entrusted to the Defence Ministry.

4. This Executive Order shall come into force on the day of its signing."