Nagorno-Karabakh accuses Azeri forces of capturing troops despite ceasefire. [ Ссылка ] Ethnic Armenian authorities in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azeri forces on Wednesday of capturing several dozen of their troops, putting further strain on a ceasefire deal that brought an end to bloody fighting in the region last month.

The Russian-brokered deal halted a six-week conflict between Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces over the region and its surrounding areas, locking in territorial gains for Azerbaijan.
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Moscow has deployed peacekeepers to police the ceasefire, but skirmishes broke out on Sunday that Azerbaijan and Armenia each blamed on the other side. Four Azeri troops were reported killed in the fighting and six ethnic Armenians wounded.

In a new setback on Wednesday, Nagorno-Karabakh’s defence ministry said it had lost contact with several military positions late on Tuesday in areas that were supposed to remain under its control according to the Nov. 10 ceasefire deal.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s ministry said it had failed to locate the troops despite carrying out search operations through the night.

Hours later, regional head Arayik Harutyunyan said the troops had been captured and accused Azerbaijan of a “provocation”.

“Several dozen servicemen were taken hostage by Azeri forces in the direction of Ktsaberd village, and the defence ministry is currently trying to figure out all the circumstances,” Harutyunyan said in a pre-written speech posted on his Facebook page.

The comments came shortly after Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed they had begun exchanging groups of prisoners of war, part of an “all for all” swap mediated by Russia.
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Clashes in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have killed four Azeri servicemen in recent weeks, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on Sunday, in the first report of casualties since a Russian-brokered ceasefire accord.

Separately, authorities in Armenia said six of their servicemen had been wounded in what they described as an Azeri military offensive that took place on Saturday.

The Baku government said the clashes, which also left two Azeri servicemen wounded, had taken place in an area that fell under its control when the fighting ended on Nov. 10 and territory in Nagorno-Karabakh previously controlled by ethnic Armenians was handed over to Azerbaijan.

It said the military operation on Friday and Saturday aimed to destroy or drive out enemy forces responsible for the deadly attacks on Azeri servicemen.

Yerevan said Armenian forces had repelled attempted intrusions into territories supposed to remain under the control of the rebel province’s government, namely the Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages.

“The provocations of Azerbaijan continued today in the direction of the villages of Mets Shen and Hin Shen in the Hadrut region,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

In another statement, Armenia’s defence ministry said: “negotiations between Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani servicemen are underway to resolve the situation in Hadrut and ensure the return of the parties to their former positions”.

Russian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict area have reported no major clashes but said at the weekend there had been one ceasefire violation.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service said that “unfounded accusations against the Azeri side and the Russian peacekeepers by some Armenian leaders and media” were unacceptable.

The Armenian foreign ministry said Russian forces were not deployed in the area where the clashes broke out.

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