Russia dispatches peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh

Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers on Tuesday as part of a pact signed with Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

The agreement calls for an end to hostilities and the deployment of 1,960 Russian peacekeepers in the region under a five-year mandate.

Ten Russian Il-76 transport planes with peacekeepers and military vehicles took off from the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airport on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said.

The peacekeeping mission will include 15 motor and rifle peacekeeping divisions from Russia's Central Military District, it said.

Under the ceasefire agreement, the Russian peacekeepers will set up observation posts along the line of contact in Nagorno Karabakh and along the so-called Lachin corridor, the main road leading from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Command over the peacekeeping operation will be based in the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, Stepanakert.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a 1994 truce ended a separatist war in which an estimated 30,000 people died.