News, reports, photos / videos on military actions in Karabakh for October 8, 2020

Martial law has been declared since September 27 – since the beginning of hostilities in Karabakh.
However, on October 8, the government made additions to this decision:

1. Actions, publications and speeches criticizing government agencies are prohibited.

2. Campaigning aimed at undermining the country’s defense capability is prohibited.

The decision was made after a high-profile treason scandal. In the morning, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page that a resident of Stepanakert had been detained, who accused the Armenian leadership of collusion with Azerbaijan and tried to persuade the military to leave their posts. Immediately after that, the director of the National Security Service was fired.

Another video with captured military trophies from the enemy was published by the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

The Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh Artak Beglaryan informs that journalists were wounded during the second strike on the Ghazanchetsots cathedral for today. They were shooting the consequences of the previous blow.
“This is a deliberate and targeted attack on the church and journalists, as they were being monitored from a drone,” the ombudsman writes in his Twitter microblog.
Armenian media reported that Russian journalists were injured.

“The military equipment of the enemy, who made an attempt to redeploy in the daytime, was destroyed by artillery fire. The enemy’s military column was destroyed, ”the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will be in Moscow on October 11-13 and will discuss the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“Russia, both in its national capacity and within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, is consistently making every possible effort aimed at an immediate ceasefire and creating conditions for the resumption of the negotiation process,” Zakharova said during a weekly briefing.

She stressed that the bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia are of an allied nature, and Moscow hopes that the visit of the Armenian Foreign Minister to Moscow “will contribute to strengthening stability and security in the Transcaucasus.”

“The destruction of the church in Shusha during the hostilities has nothing to do with the activities of the Azerbaijani army,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

In Geneva, negotiations on the escalation in Karabakh began under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group. At this point, the following is known (according to RIA Novosti):

“The talks on Nagorno-Karabakh are being held in Geneva on Thursday with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, France, the United States) and representatives of Azerbaijan.

The meeting takes place outside the UN, in a secret place and in a closed format. It is attended by the OSCE co-chairs from Russia, France and the United States. “

The Armenian Defense Ministry published a video about the participation of mercenaries from Syria in the hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone. Video footage filmed in Afrin was published on the TV program “Zinuzh” (Armed Forces). In the video, a man addresses the audience, stating that the struggle of Islam is now going on in Azerbaijan.

Earlier, international media, in particular the authoritative British editions Guardian and Reuters, also wrote that Turkey was sending mercenaries from Syria to Azerbaijan.

In response to the decision of the Greek Foreign Ministry to recall its ambassador from Baku for consultations, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Athens has been recalled to Baku for consultations, the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev answered the questions of the English-language service of Euronews:

What are the next steps for both countries?

How long will the hostilities last and at what cost?

What is needed to establish peace and is it possible now?

• How long will the hostilities last, at what cost? Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders answer on Euronews

“As a result of shelling of Azerbaijani settlements by the Armenian armed forces, as of the morning of October 8, 31 civilians were killed, and another 154 people received bodily injuries of varying severity,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

As a result of shelling, 133 civilian objects, 928 houses and 45 residential buildings became unusable, the report says.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces bombarded the main symbol of the city of Shushi – the Kazanchetsots Cathedral (Cathedral of the Holy Christ the All-Savior), the Information Headquarters of Nagorno-Karabakh reports.
Armenian media journalists report that at that moment there were children in the cathedral, who are still in great stress.

“The Armenian armed forces struck a blow with a Tochka-U tactical missile system on the territory of the Barda region,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

A resident of Stepanakert was detained in Yerevan who accused the Armenian leadership of conspiring with Azerbaijan to surrender the territories. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this on his Facebook page.
The prime minister learned a few days ago that “some people went a spot on the front line and convinced the soldiers holding positions there that Nikol had sold the land.”

Pashinyan says some soldiers were convinced that the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed upon the war beforehand and that there was thus ‘no point in holding the position.’

“On my instructions, the SNB launched an investigation, and one of the key suspects, a resident of Stepanakert, was found and arrested in Yerevan. An investigation is underway”, Nikol Pashinyan writes.

He urged everyone who has information relevant to the case to contact the National Security Service.

“The Armenian armed forces have been shelling the villages of Goranboy, Terter and Aghdam regions since the morning hours. There are dead and wounded,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

During the night, the situation did not change significantly, the situation was tense, but stable, the Ministry of Defense of Karabakh reports:
“In some areas, shooting, rocket and artillery strikes continued. At present, hostilities have resumed in the northern and southern directions.”
On the morning of October 8, an attempt to attack from the Azerbaijani side was repelled in the southern direction, on the outskirts of the city of Jebrail.

12th day of fighting in Karabakh.

• From the Armenian side, since the beginning of the fighting on September 27, according to official data, more than 320 soldiers and 21 civilians have been killed and 80 have been wounded. On the Azerbaijani side, 30 civilians were killed, 143 were wounded. How many Azerbaijani soldiers died has not been reported. Experts suggest that the statistics of deaths and injuries are larger on both sides, given the intensity of the fighting, which has been going on for 12 days.

• According to the parties, fighting continued along the entire front line over night.

• Artillery shelling continued on both Stepanakert (the capital of Karabakh) and settlements on the territory of Azerbaijan.

• The Armenian Ministry of Defense reported that the Armenian military returned the Varangatag (Lulasaz) hill and improved their positions. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied this information.

• The Russian President commented on the fighting in Karabakh and said that he was very worried”, as “there are no strangers to us living in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Karabakh”.  Putin also said that there is no fighting on the territory of Armenia, and “Yerevan thus has no questions to Moscow regarding its fulfillment of allied obligations.”

• On October 8, representatives of France, Russia and the United States as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (facilitating the negotiation process in the Karabakh conflict) will meet in Geneva with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.  A similar meeting is scheduled in Moscow on October 12.

• News, reports, photos / videos on military operations in Karabakh for October 6, 2020