Negotiations in Syunik on the issue of Azerbaijani Armed Forces illegally invading the territory of the Republic of Armenia will continue on tomorrow on May 16 at 2:00 p.m., informs the Ministry of Defense of Armenia in a statement.

The statement runs as follows,

“The Armenian side has once again firmly demanded that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces leave the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and return to their original positions without any preconditions, in order to avoid further aggravation of the situation and unpredictable consequences.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense noted that no changes have been recorded in any of the three areas where Azerbaijani forces advanced onto Armenia’s sovereign territory in Syunik & Gegharkunik.

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia emphasize the need for a peaceful settlement of the situation, nevertheless, they once again declared that encroachments on the sovereign territories of Armenia are absolutely unacceptable.”

Lieutenant-General Rustam Muradov, the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, joined the negotiation process today, informs Sputnik Armenia.

Rustam Muradov will remain commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh for another 6 months, per Sputnik Armenia. Earlier, it was reproed that Lieutenant General Alexei Avdeev was set to replace Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov as commander in the coming days.