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The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, denouncing Azerbaijan for violating the line of contact with Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and advancing into the village of Parukh in the Askeran region on Thursday. The full statement is below.

"Today (March 24), at around 4pm, the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the line of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping mission and infiltrated into the village of Parukh in Artsakh.

These aggressive actions of Azerbaijan once again demonstrate that official Baku continues to grossly violate the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, according to which the hostilities were ceased, the sides stopped in their positions and peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation were deployed along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh.

These actions were preceded by Azerbaijan's complete disruption of the only gas pipeline supplying Artsakh, the targeting of civilian infrastructure with large-caliber weapons, terrorising threats towards the Armenians of Artsakh, and other steps aimed at ethnic cleansing. Moreover, along with the drastic escalation of the security situation in Europe, such actions by Baku seriously endanger regional stability and peace.

We expect that the Russian peacekeeping forces in whose area of ​​responsibility the provocation takes place will undertake measures to ensure that the Azerbaijani troops immediately return to their initial positions and adhere to the commitments undertaken under the November 9 Trilateral Statement.

We call on the international community to make a clear assessment of Azerbaijan's provocative actions aimed at undermining the peace process and to support efforts for establishing peace in the South Caucasus and achieving a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."