YEREVAN. Oct 19 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani authorities have not allowed International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff to evacuate injured servicemen from the battlefield in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone despite a current humanitarian ceasefire, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.
"After Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a humanitarian ceasefire, the International Committee of the Red Cross tried to reach an agreement on evacuating injured servicemen from the battlefield overnight. However, this step, which matched the spirit of both the October 17 agreements and the agreements reached in Moscow on October 10, was categorically rejected by Baku," the ministry said on Sunday.
Azerbaijan is yet to comment on this statement from the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
A new humanitarian truce in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed by Armenia and Azerbaijan entered into force at 00:01 a.m. local time on Sunday (11:01 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday).
The Defense Ministry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) earlier accused the Azerbaijani Armed Forces of launching an offensive in the southern sector of the frontline on Sunday morning.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, in turn, also has accused the Armenian Armed Forces of breaching the fresh humanitarian ceasefire.