First groups of the Eastern Military District’s special-purpose medical unit arrived in Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic, to provide medical assistance to the local population, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Earlier, a group of doctors was flown by Il-76 aircraft from the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk to Armenia’s capital Yerevan.

‘Teams of the special-purpose medical united carried out a 300-km one-day journey in a vehicle convoy travelling from Yerevan to Stepanakert. <…> The convoy was accompanied by patrols of the Russian peacekeeping force and military police,” the ministry said.

“The first group of doctors lists more than 60 medical specialists, including military surgeons, intensive care specialists, physicians and epidemiologists,” it said.

Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in line with agreements reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan On November 9. In line with the joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides are to maintain the positions that they held and Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed to the region.

Units of Russia’s 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade comprise the bulk of the peacekeeping contingent in the region. The Russian peacekeepers have set up observation posts along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachinsky corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. The peacekeeping mission’s command is stationed in the area of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh.