Welcome to Today in History on Slow English FM, where we explore the people and events behind important dates. On November 10, 2020, a ceasefire took effect in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders, with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population. The region had been a focus of conflict since the Soviet Union collapsed.

The conflict had a long history. After the first war ended in 1994, ethnic Armenian forces controlled Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby territories. In 2020, after six weeks of fighting, Azerbaijan regained surrounding areas and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. The fighting stopped, but the region’s final political status remained unsettled. The 2020 ceasefire therefore came after a major change in control, while leaving a central political question open.

The ceasefire was part of a statement by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. It declared a complete halt to military operations from midnight Moscow time on November 10. The parties were to remain in their current positions. This brought an end to the 44-day conflict. That timing helps explain why November 10 is remembered as the start of the ceasefire.

The statement also provided for Russian peacekeepers along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor, a route connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The corridor was meant to ensure communication between the region and Armenia, and it was to remain under Russian peacekeeping control. These provisions described more than where the fighting would stop. They set out who would oversee a key route, shaping the immediate arrangements on the ground.

The agreement addressed life after the fighting, too. It called for displaced people and refugees to return under the UN refugee agency’s supervision, exchanges of prisoners and other detainees, and the return of the dead. It also called for regional economic and transport links to reopen. In other words, the statement looked beyond military positions to movement, families separated by war, and connections across the region. These were plans set out in the agreement, not proof that every measure was carried out as written.

So November 10 marks both a ceasefire and the start of a new arrangement on the ground. But it did not settle the central question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s political status. That distinction helps explain why the agreement mattered—and why it was not a final resolution. This has been Today in History on Slow English FM. Stay with us for more stories that bring the past into focus.