On October 7, 2 conversations took place with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the 2nd talk, Putin said that he spoke with the President of Azerbaijan, but the latter said that he was not ready to go to the ceasefire, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the session of the Armenia's National Assembly investigative committee.
"Putin also said that he agreed to speak with Aliyev again the next day. The next day, Putin already informed that the Azerbaijani side has a precondition.
It is expected that Fizuli would be surrendered to them without a battle, and that the Armenian forces would retreat along the Araks River to the Khodaferin Reservoir, so that the reservoir is under Azeri control and they can draw water from it for irrigation. Apart from that, the leadership of Azerbaijan expected to get back Guliyev and Askerov, who were serving their sentence for murder and kidnapping in Artsakh, considering it possible to return the captives. Moreover, in response to all this, a ceasefire was not announced, but a humanitarian ceasefire to organize the funeral of the dead. After that, there should be no condition or obligation not to continue the military operations", Pashinyan said.
"I said that preconditions were not acceptable, because we agreed with the Russian president that the ceasefire should be established without preconditions, and then even if I agree to the withdrawal of troops, there was no guarantee that Azerbaijan would not continue the attack during the withdrawal.
However, I showed some flexibility by noting that the joint use of water from the Khodaferin reservoir is possible, that is, Nagorno-Karabakh, I think, may not prevent Azerbaijan from taking water from the reservoir. The condition for the return of Askerov and Guliyev was debatable, if Azerbaijan said how many Armenian prisoners it was going to return to the Armenian side through the mediation of the Russian Federation. Fizuli, the condition of retreating to the Araks coast without giving up battle was not acceptable, the proposal to establish a humanitarian ceasefire for the purpose of burying the bodies of the dead was fully accepted. is acceptable", Armenian Prime Minster said.
The Prime Minister also informed that another conversation took place on October 8, during which the Russian President said that Azerbaijan agrees to establish a ceasefire from October 9 to 10 midnight. In order to discuss that, Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers were invited to Moscow on October 9 to start consultations with the mediation of the Russian Federation. Also, prisoners and remains of the dead were to be exchanged. The Prime Minister agreed to the proposal. After the conversation, an announcement was made on the Russian President's website that a humanitarian ceasefire was established.
