MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: Russian peacekeepers are controlling the ceasefire and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with the help of Orlan-10 drones, mobile video transmitting and secure video conferencing systems at observation posts, Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
"The Russian peacekeeping contingent continues monitoring the situation on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh around the clock. Mobile video transmitting and secure video conferencing systems have been installed and are operating at all the observation posts to get equipment-recorded data on the situation. The situation is also being controlled with the help of Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles," the spokesman said.
The ceasefire is being observed along the entire engagement line in Karabakh. The search for and the exchange of the bodies of those killed in military confrontation continues under the coordination of the Russian peacekeeping forces and the International Committee of the Red Cross. A total of 1,168 people have returned to Nagorno-Karabakh with the assistance of Russian peacekeepers in the past twenty-four hours. To date, over 27,000 refugees have returned to their places of living, the general said.
"Today the educational process has resumed at School No. 8 in Stepanakert. More than 400 schoolchildren have resumed classes. The building and its internal premises have been repaired, the power and heat supply has been restored and glass panes have been replaced," Konashenkov said.
A total of over 1.8 km of communications links, 1.5 km of the gas pipeline, more than 1.7 km of power transmission lines, seven power transmission towers and four voltage transforming stations have been restored in the past twenty-four hours. Military doctors of the Russian Defense Ministry’s special-purpose medical team have rendered assistance to another 54 Stepanakert residents, including eight children, the spokesman said.
Russian combat engineers continue clearing Stepanakert and the Shusha-Lysogorsky road section along power transmission lines of explosives, the general said.
In the past twenty-four hours, the bomb technicians have cleared over 4 hectares of the territory and 1 km of roads of explosives and detected and eliminated 17 explosive devices. Overall, the Russian military engineers have cleared over 38 hectares of the terrain and more than 12 km of roads of mines in Nagorno-Karabakh, surveyed 117 houses and social facilities and found and defused over 1,100 explosives, the Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh
On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian forces would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh is comprised of units from the 15th separate motor rifle (peacekeeping) brigade of the Central Military District.
The Russian peacekeepers have set up observation posts along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. The peacekeeping mission’s command is stationed in Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation is being monitored around the clock.
