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Updated October 11th, 2020 at 17:07 IST

Nagorno Karabakh president accuses Israel of backing Azerbaijan

The de facto president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic has accused Israel of backing Azerbaijan, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan traded blame for derailing a deal intended to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.

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The de facto president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic has accused Israel of backing Azerbaijan, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan traded blame for derailing a deal intended to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, Arayik Harutyunyan said Azerbaijan had been using Israeli-made attack drones in the recent fighting.

"They continue to provide these UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and the authorities of Israel are responsible for this genocide," he told reporters.

Harutyunyan also accused Azerbaijan authorities of failing to comply with an agreement on the exchange of prisoners and the dead that should have taken place on Sunday with the support of the Red Cross.

The cease-fire announcement came overnight after 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The deal stipulated that the cease-fire should pave the way for talks on settling the conflict.

If the truce holds, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan.

The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and left hundreds of people dead in the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.

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Published October 11th, 2020 at 17:07 IST

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