Separatists running the self-styled “Republic of Artsakh” said they had been forced to agree to Azerbaijan’s terms – relayed by Russian peacekeepers – after Baku’s army broke through their lines and seized a number of strategic locations while the world did nothing.
“The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh accept the proposal from the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to cease fire,” they said in a statement.
Azerbaijan confirmed a ceasefire deal had been reached.
The outcome would appear to pave the way for Azerbaijan to integrate around 120,000 ethnic Armenians into its society – a prospect some Armenians say they fear – and to take full control of a mountainous area that has been at the centre of two wars since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Armenia, which says it has no military forces in Karabakh despite Azerbaijani assertions, did not intervene militarily. It has accused Baku of trying to ethnically cleanse Karabakh, something Azerbaijan has denied. / REUTERS