Baku, Yerevan agree on declaring ceasefire in Karabakh

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon local time on April 5.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh is currently being prepared, the ministry's press secretary said, Sputnik reported.

"A document on a ceasefire is currently being prepared. I'm not authorized to release details about the document," Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.

A bilateral agreement on a ceasefire is being prepared at the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh in Vienna.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and Farnce, has been mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis settlement since 1992.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also confirmed the ceasefire, stating that all hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh ceased at 12:00 local time.

"We made the decision to declare a ceasefire along the Karabakh contact line on April 5 at 12:00 (08:00 GMT)," the ministry spokesman Vagif Dargali told RIA Novosti.

Earlier, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic's army said to have received an order from the political leadership to agree on a ceasefire.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) demands recognition and an agreement that would guarantee that hostilities in the area do not resume, head of the NKR representation in Moscow Albert Andryan announced.

EA