STEPANAKERT. – In 2019, the situation at the contact line of the Artsakh-Azerbaijani opposing troops can be conditionally considered relatively stable. Press service of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic noted this in a statement summarizing the year.

"Not only has the security of [Artsakh] personnel involved in combat duty been substantially increased, but the possibility of subversive penetration attempts by the Azerbaijani armed forces has been virtually eliminated," the statement also reads, in particular. “In 2019, the ceasefire was violated by the adversary about 9,000 times at the line of contact between the Artsakh-Azerbaijani opposing troops, during which more than 85,000 shots (…) were fired at Armenian positions. It should be noted here that (...) is the lowest since 2010.

Referring to the Artsakh issue, we should note that although the 25th anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire agreement between the parties was marked this year, the OSCE Minsk Group—engaged in the resolution of the issue—failed to make progress as Baku not only continued to reject the basic principles for resolving the issue, but also ignored the confidence-building measures put forward by the co-chairs aimed at strengthening the ceasefire. None of the highest level meetings and informal contacts between the conflicting parties during the year, as well as the six meetings of the Foreign Ministers to further the negotiations, were able to make progress because of the opposing positions of the parties.

Throughout the year, the [Artsakh] defense army countered with action its strength and combat-readiness to the lack of progress at the negotiating table and the top-level statements by Azerbaijan on a military solution to the Karabakh conflict, and continued to play a dictating role in the frontline, thus securing the inviolability of the borders of the Artsakh Republic and the peaceful life of the population."