Military developments

On 29 October, the de facto Ministry of Defence (MOD) of Nagorno-Karabakh reported that the cities of Stepanakert/Khankendi, Shusha and Martakert and the surrounding settlements remain the target of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The de facto MOD stated that Smerch rocket systems were being used for shelling. It was also reported that a residential building was destroyed in Stepanakert/Khankendi and a neighbouring building completely collapsed from the blow, with two people being injured in the process. The Azerbaijani MOD refuted this information.   

The de facto President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutunyan stated that Azerbaijani forces were 5km away from the city of Shusha. According to him, Azerbaijan is conducting military operations not only along the entire front line but has also invested serious military resources in the direction of the city. Harutunyan urged the Armenian populace of the region to unite and prevent the capture of the city. “We must turn the tide of the war in a matter of days and punish the enemy near Shusha,” he stated.

The Azerbaijani MOD reported that fighting continued mainly in the Khojavend, Fizuli and Gubadli areas of the front. In addition it was emphasised that the territories of Barda, Goranboy and Terter regions succumbed to artillery fire.

The international NGO Amnesty International verified the use of banned cluster bombs by Armenia for the first time in the current Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following an attack on the city of Barda in Azerbaijan. “The firing of cluster munitions into civilian areas is cruel and reckless, and causes untold death, injury and misery,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “As this conflict continues to escalate, Armenian, Armenian-backed and Azerbaijani forces have all been guilty of using banned weapons that have endangered the lives of civilians caught in the middle. Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons, and their use in any circumstances is banned under international humanitarian law. We are again calling on both sides to immediately stop using cluster munitions, and to prioritise the protection of civilians,” she stated.

Political developments 

The Azerbaijani authorities handed over the bodies of dead soldiers and one previously captured civilian to Armenia. The Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev said that the bodies of 30 Armenian servicemen and two captured civilians were handed over to Armenia in the Tovuz-Gazakh direction. “Despite our multiple appeals to the International Committee of Red Cross on exchange of bodies and military prisoners, Armenian side rejected it. Therefore, we made a decision to transfer them to Armenia unilaterally,” wrote Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on his Twitter page. 

The spokesperson of Armenia’s MOD Shushan Stepanyan wrote on her Facebook page that the exchange took place thanks to the exceptional mediation efforts of Russia, with the participation of the field team of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. “The Armenian side, remaining committed to the agreements on a humanitarian truce, expresses its readiness to transfer the bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen who are on the Karabakh side to the Azerbaijani side, begin the process of evacuating the bodies of the dead from inter-positional territories along the entire length of the front, begin the process of exchanging information about prisoners of war and exchanging them,” she wrote.

The scheduled Geneva meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsaknyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, was postponed for 30 October. The spokesperson of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova revealed the scheduled meeting’s topics of discussion. “From the very beginning, we tried to achieve an early ceasefire and transfer the situation into a political and diplomatic channel. Tomorrow in Geneva, representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the agenda of the meeting will also include issues related to international humanitarian law,” she said. In particular, the parties would discuss the implementation of the agreements that were reached in Moscow on 10 October - a ceasefire, exchange of prisoners and the bodies of the dead.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin also spoke on Russia’s negotiations efforts during the conflict. “We initially proceeded from the fact that it is necessary to talk about the possibility of transferring 5 + 2 regions to Azerbaijan with the provision of a certain regime of the Karabakh zone, interaction with Armenia, and so on,” he said. 

He added that a long-term settlement is to find a balance of interests that would suit both sides: both the Azerbaijani and Armenian people. “In order for people to feel safe and at the same time encourage opportunities for effective regional development.” The unblocking and development of all infrastructural opportunities… would form the basis for the effective development of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and of Nagorno-Karabakh itself, because people there live quite modestly. And it would give an opportunity, among other things, to many of our today's participants in the discussion to take part in the development of these territories, to invest, and there is room to invest,” Putin stated.