On 16 November, at 13:30, the RA Ministry of Defense announced that at around 13:00, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had initiated another provocation in the direction of the eastern border of the RA, firing on the Armenian positions. The RA Armed Forces subdivisions took retaliatory actions in order to prevent the enemy’s advance.

National Assembly Deputy Eduard Aghajanyan stated during the NA sitting that Azerbaijan continues provocative actions on the border with Armenia. According to him, on 14 November in one of the eastern sections of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the territory of the Republic of Armenia with the help of military equipment, as a result of negotiations the military equipment and most of the troops were withdrawn, “In the above-mentioned sector, Azerbaijan has strengthened its presence as a result of illegal infiltration into the territory of the Republic of Armenia on 2 May.”

The Ministry of Defense stated that as of 14:00, the situation in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains tense. The enemy uses artillery, armored vehicles, and firearms of different calibers. The Armenian side has taken adequate actions. As a result of intense skirmishes, the enemy has a loss of armored vehicles.

Already at 15:15 the RA Ministry of Defense informed that as of 14:30 the situation in the RA eastern border zone continues to remain extremely tense. There are local battles, during which the enemy uses artillery, armored vehicles, and firearms of different calibers.

At around 15:30, Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan announced that since the attack was on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian side appeals to the Russian Federation. “We appeal to the Russian Federation to protect the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the 1997 agreement between Russia and Armenia. This is an oral application that will have a written procedure. We want to inform the public, our partners, that we are starting such a process,” he said, adding that the Armenian side expects the Russian side to provide assistance, give an opportunity to restore the territorial integrity of Armenia.

Grigoryan reminded that the RA state border is a “red line” for Russia, the Azerbaijanis have been violating that “red line” since 12 May.

“We appeal to our ally in order to be able to restore the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of our allied obligations. If it is possible to resolve this crisis situation through negotiations, we are in favor. If it is not possible to resolve it through negotiations, then provide enough military assistance to Armenia so that Armenia can resolve the situation,”

At 15:00 The Ministry of Defense informed of the data on the victims and the injured are being clarified, it was clearly known about 4 wounded. The enemy has great losses of armored vehicles and manpower.

At 16:00, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia issued a statement, noting that The Republic of Armenia, in accordance with the UN Charter, has the right to reflect by all means the use of force against its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
We call on the international community and our international partners – Russia, the CSTO, the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group and the co-chairing countries to respond clearly to these actions, undermining regional peace and security, and to take effective steps towards their prevention and the unconditional and complete withdrawal of Azerbaijani armed forces from the territory Republic of Armenia.”

At 16:15 the RA Ministry of Defense denied  the enemy’s statement that the RA Armed Forces subdivisions allegedly fired on the Azerbaijani positions in several directions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on 15 November and “The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan is trying to blame the Armenian side for its large-scale provocation, however, it is more than obvious that it was Azerbaijan that attacked, attacking the Armenian positions using artillery and armored vehicles.”

At 16:20, several parties running in the local elections announced that they were suspending their campaign due to the border situation, including the candidates of the “Civil Contract” Party , the “Republic” Party, and the “Bright Armenia” Party.

At 16:45, the RA Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Armenian side has casualties, the data on which are being verified, as it is known about the loss of two combat positions. The units of the Armenian Armed Forces, with adequate actions, caused great losses of military equipment and manpower to the enemy. The battles continue, their intensity has not weakened.

At 17:00, the Ministry of Defense released a video where it was seen how the units of the RA Armed Forces were destroying the armored vehicles of the enemy that had invaded the territory of the RA.

At 17:50, according to Russian media reports, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vardan Toghanyan stated that Armenia and Russia are holding consultations through diplomatic and military channels on the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. He noted that Armenia has not yet sent an official letter to the Russian side to help resolve the situation on the border.

From 17:50 the communication operators Ucom, VivaMTS, Beeline warned the subscribers that calls and letters from Azerbaijani numbers and accounts are possible.

• Do not give in to the provocations of the enemy, ignore the possible calls, messages, fake emails sent by the enemy from their accounts.
• In any case, it is not allowed to distribute videos and photos on the movement of the armed forces and military equipment։.
• Suspicious, unverified news, rumors should not be spread.

At 18:00, the Ministry of Defense informed that there were 12 servicemen captured by the Azerbijani side, 7 of whom were contract servicemen and 5 were conscripts. As a result of the retaliatory actions of the Armenian side, the enemy has a large number of personnel losses, about a dozen units of armored vehicles have been destroyed or taken out of service.

At 18:50, the National Security Service issued a statement stating that in order to cause panic among the population of Armenia, messages containing misinformation were spread by Azeris on various social platforms and websites, calling in particular to launch “terrorist” telephone operations against Armenians. I ask you to start a telephone terror company against the Armenians” («Друзья, просим Вас начать компанию телефонного террора против армян»).

“Dear citizens, we urge not to spread suspicious, unverified information, videos, photos on the movement of armed forces or military equipment, and to rely exclusively on official information sources,” the NSS said.

At 18:50, the Prime Minister’s Office informed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with the President of the European Council Charles Michel on the latter’s initiative.

At 19:15 the Ministry of Defense mentioned that the RA Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan had a telephone conversation with the RF Minister of Defense, Army General Sergey Shoigu. The Russian Defense Minister expressed readiness to make every effort to end hostilities, return prisoners of war and resolve the situation.

At 19:30 The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin issued a statement “The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church calls on the international community, inter-church and inter-religious structures, the leaders of the Sister Churches to raise their voices by all possible means, to stop the next encroachments of the Azerbaijani side, for the salvation of human lives, protection of fundamental rights, prevention of a new tragedy.”

At 20:40, the speech of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the special session of the Security Council was published․ “The Government of the Republic of Armenia, the people are determined, we will defend our sovereignty, territorial integrity, statehood and independence by all possible means. At the same time, we continue to emphasize the need for a peaceful resolution of the situation; all our previous proposals are valid. We are committed to the provisions of the trilateral statements of 9 November and 11 January.”

At 21:10, according to Russian media reports, it was mentioned that on the initiative of the Armenian side, a telephone conversation took place between RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  and Russian President Vladimir Putin”.

The UN appealed to Baku and Yerevan to show restraint and resolve the conflict peacefully, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General.

The United States called for an immediate end to hostilities and the resumption of talks under the auspices of the Minsk Group.

France calls on the parties to adhere to the ceasefire they pledged to adhere to in the 9 November, 2020 trilateral statement.

At 21:45 the Ministry of Defense reported: “According to the agreement reached through the mediation of the Russian side, the fire in the eastern border zone of the Republic of Armenia has been stopped since 18:30, the situation has relatively stabilized.”

* SCHEDULE IS COMPILED WITH 1-10 MINUTES POSSIBLE DIFFERENCE