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A regular sitting of the Security Council chaired by President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan was held in an expanded format on Friday, the presidential office reported.

In his opening remarks, the president first and foremost noted that the frequent holding of Security Council sittings recently is conditioned by the military-political situation in the republic, especially by the developments in the eastern part of Artsakh. Touching upon the carried out actions and future plans, Harutyunyan expressed his appreciation to the Defense Army, other power structures and the volunteers, who managed to fulfill the set tasks in a short period of time, suspending the enemy's advance.

"We understand that their goal was to capture the whole of Karaglukh. We should state that the main height of Karaglukh, the highest point, is under our control, but as of today some important hills are under the control of the Azerbaijani troops. Our goal is to withdraw the Azerbaijanis to their initial positions. Our demand and request to the peacekeeping troops was that the status quo stemming from the trilateral statement should be restored. We will never change this claim," Harutyunyan said.

He expressed confidence that the purpose of the provocation fomented by Azerbaijan was first of all aimed at discretization of the role of the Russian peacekeeping forces.

"We consider that the Russian peacekeeping forces continue to carry out their mission, notwithstanding that episode," Harutyunyan said.

However, the Artsakh leader stressed that vigilance should be maintained at a high level until it is clear that Azerbaijan will not resort to such provocations again.

"For that very reason, we will take radical and decisive steps in terms of our self-defense in the future," Harutyunyan said.

Minister of Defense Kamo Vardanyan delivered a report on the current operative-tactical situation on the line of contact.

During the discussion of the issues on the agenda, Harutyunyan gave a number of instructions to the responsible officials of the relevant structures.