Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani army has taken full control of Lachin city along with the adjacent Zabukh and Sus villages, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

“Under the instruction of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijan Army has taken complete control of Lachin city, as well as Zabukh and Sus settlements,” the ministry stressed.

Currently, measures are being taken to deploy units of the Azerbaijan army to new points of deployment and to carry out the necessary technical work in the region, the ministry added.

Earlier, Lachin city was temporarily controlled by the Russian peacekeepers to provide communication between Armenia and Karabakh region. Under the November 10, 2020, trilateral statement, signed by the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders, the city should be handed over to Azerbaijan after the completion of a new road, which would be an alternative to the Lachin corridor.

Following the completion of the new road bypassing Lachin, Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia clear the unlawfully occupied city and adjacent settlements by August 25.

The trilateral ceasefire deal, signed by the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders with the mediation of the Russian president on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

The deal also stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the peace deal, Azerbaijan liberated 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historical Shusha city that had been under Armenian occupation for about 30 years.

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