Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed to a ceasefire, starting from 12:00 on Saturday, to exchange prisoners and bodies of those killed in the conflict. Lavrov made the statement after 10-hour-long talks with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts in Moscow around 3:00 in the morning local time. He also said Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to start talks on the settlement of the conflict. Euronews reported Saturday that Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of shelling civilian areas early morning, hours before a truce temporarily halting fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region came into force. Lavrov also said that the two parties will "begin substantive negotiations with the aim of achieving a peaceful settlement as soon as possible." But both sides accused each other on Saturday morning of shelling civilian areas before the ceasefire comes into force. Artak Beglaryan, Nagorno Karabakh's ombudsman, wrote on Twitter: "Azerbaijan a few minutes ago again struck Stepanakert civilian areas with missiles." Stepanakert, known as Khakendi by Azerbaijanis, is Nagorno-Karabakh's capital. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry affirmed in its own statement that "Armenian armed forces are intensively shelling settlement in Goranboy, Tartar, Agdam, Agjabadi and Fizuli regions." "Our army is taking retaliatory measures against the enemy," it added. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bloody war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, which ended in a truce in 1994. Sporadic episodes of violence have since taken place. The mountainous region lies in Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians backed by Armenia. Violence between the two former Soviet states erupted again on Sept. 27 with both sides blaming each other for the latest flare-up — the worst in decades. At least 400 people have since been killed in the fighting and half of the region's population — about 70,000 — have been displaced. The International Committee of the Red Cross — which will assist the two sides during the temporary ceasefire — said earlier this week "hundreds of key infrastructure like hospitals and schools" have either been destroyed or damaged by heavy artillery. — Agencies
