The Azerbaijani defense ministry on Sunday called on Russian peacekeepers operating in the Karabakh region to use the correct names for Azerbaijani settlements.

"It is inadmissible to mention the Karabakh economic region as Nagorno-Karabakh territory," the defense ministry said in a statement.

Calling on the command of the Russian peacekeeping forces temporarily stationed in a certain part of the Karabakh Economic Region of Azerbaijan to abide by the names mentioned in official documents, the statement said "it is necessary to refer to the names of Azerbaijani settlements in the relevant information with the correct toponyms mentioned in the official documents sent to them."

"In the official information of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation, published on the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on 27.11.2022, the official names of the Azerbaijani settlements referred (to) as "Mardakert" and "Martuni" are AGHDARA and KHOJAVAND, respectively," it added.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military illegally occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions.

Clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, with the Armenian Army attacking civilians and Azerbaijani forces, violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and around 300 settlements and villages that had been occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

The fighting ended with a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10, 2020, which was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia.

However, the cease-fire has been broken several times since then.