(Reuters) – The U.S. government is “deeply concerned” by fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.
“We urge immediate steps to reduce tensions and avoid further escalation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Beech)
Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan with Armenian support after a bloody post-Soviet conflict in the early 1990s. In 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the region and Baku successfully won back part of the territory controlled by the separatists. Under the terms of a subsequent ceasefire, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to protect the remainder of the separatist-held territory. Both sides accuse each other of breaches, and in recent days violence has flared.
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces breached the ceasefire in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in the area of the height of Sarybaba, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a report on the activities of Russian peacekeepers of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The situation in the zone of responsibility of the contingent is aggravated. In the area of the height of Sarybaba, the ceasefire regime was breached by the armed forces of Azerbaijan.”
“The command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, together with representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides, is taking measures to stabilize the situation,” the ministry said. The Azerbaijani military captured several heights in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry’s press office told Sputnik.
According to the ministry, Armenian soldiers committed sabotage against the Azerbaijani military in violation of trilateral agreements between Baku, Yerevan and Moscow. “As a result of the response operation carried out by the units of the Azerbaijan military, several heights in Karabakh were taken under control,” the office said. (ANI)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan blamed the Azerbaijani side during a meeting with Andrzej Kasprzyk, head of a small OSCE mission monitoring the ceasefire regime in Karabakh. Mirzoyan said Baku attempts to “destabilise the situation”.
The Karabakh foreign ministry condemned the “new wave of Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions against Artsakh [the Armenian name for Karabakh]”.
Karabakh’s leadership conveyed that Azerbaijan has demanded the closure of the Lachin corridor, which is the only overland link between Armenia and Karabakh, saying that “traffic must be organised along a new route shortly”.
Armenia’s Security Council secretary, Armen Grigoryan, dismissed the issue “It’s not legitimate.” He argued that under the agreement, Azerbaijan and Armenia must work out the new road by 2024.
The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported that an 18-year-old soldier was killed in the morning when its positions in the Lachin district west of Karabakh came under “intensive” fire. At the same time, Karabakh denied any clashes in Lachin and claimed that the road was open and safe.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry afterwards blamed Armenia for the fighting, saying that Yerevan has not withdrawn its troops from Karabakh and is in breach of the ceasefire agreement reached after the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. However, since September, Armenia has pledged to withdraw forces and not send fresh recruits.
BAKU, Azerbaijan: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has strongly rejected the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry delivered on August 3 with ungrounded accusations against the Azerbaijani side.
In a statement, the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Azerbaijan said that aaccusations shared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia against Azerbaijan in violation of the trilateral statement are nothing but mere hypocrisy.
It said that we remind that Azerbaijan has repeatedly reported Armenia’s failure to fulfill the provisions of the statement on November 10, 2020, signed by the leaders of the three countries, in particular, that the Armenian armed units have not yet been withdrawn from the sovereign territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Pursuant to Article 4 of the trilateral statement reads: “the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation shall be deployed in parallel with the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces.”
In addition to numerous evidence on the Azerbaijani side about the presence of illegal Armenian armed forces on the territory of Azerbaijan, this fact was also acknowledged by Armenian officials.
Thus, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Sahak Sahakyan on June 29, 2022 at a meeting with the parents of the recruits from Armenia stated that: “Armenian conscripts in the Karabakh region will be replaced by servicemen of active military service”, as well as the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan in an interview dated July 19, 2022 reminded that “the withdrawal of the units of the Armed Forces of Armenia from Karabakh will be completed by September of this year”.
Both statements contradict the obligations assumed by Armenia, and it clearly demonstrates that Armenia still illegally deploys its armed military formations on the territory of a neighboring state.
13:06, 4 August 2022
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 17,126 over the past day to 18,653,867, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.
In absolute terms, the growth rate has been the highest since April 2, when 17,949 cases were recorded.
As many as 1,916 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 6% from a day earlier.
Russia’s COVID-19 recoveries rose by 9,752 over the past day, reaching 18,010,066, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.
Russia’s COVID-19 death toll rose by 44 over the past day, reaching 382,604, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.
13:39, 4 August 2022
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting with foreign ambassadors on August 4.
Mirzoyan drew the attention of the ambassadors to the situation created as a result of Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions and provocations in Nagorno Karabakh. The FM said that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces – by once again violating the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on cessation of hostilities in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone – launched aggression in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping troops, which led to 2 soldiers of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army being killed and 19 others wounded.
The Armenian FM specially emphasized that the Azerbaijani side has officially and overtly assumed the responsibility of the aggression, evidence of which are the statements released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the ceasefire violations recorded by the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh.
FM Mirzoyan said that before the aggression, the Azeri side submitted a letter to the Russian peacekeeping contingent regarding transferring control of the Lachin Corridor, according to which the Azerbaijani side is planning to change the route which is presently passing through Lachin Corridor, which is a gross violation of the November 9 trilateral statement because point 6 of the statement clearly states that with agreement of the parties, meaning Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin corridor shall be determined within the next three years, whereas there is no such plan approved in a trilateral format.
FM Mirzoyan underscored that to Armenia’s efforts for achieving regional stability and peace the Azerbaijani authorities are responding with Armenophobic rhetoric, aggressive statements and undisguised threats of using force. The FM said that Azerbaijan’s continuous policy to subject Nagorno Karabakh to ethnic cleansing is unacceptable.
The Armenian FM also addressed the outstanding humanitarian issues caused by the 44-day war, emphasizing that by violating international humanitarian law Azerbaijan continues to hold Armenian PoWs, including civilians, in captivity.
FM Mirzoyan reiterated Armenia’s stance aimed at the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship mandate – the only international format authorized by the UN Security Council.
It was also highlighted that the international community’s coordinated and united support is needed for supporting Armenia’s agenda of reaching peace in the South Caucasus.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on August 3, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) blamed Azerbaijan for violating the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Russian MoD supported the Armenian side of the conflict because Azerbaijan really violated the ceasefire, military expert Alexander Khramchikhin believes, while “the escalation of the conflict in South Caucasus is extremely disadvantageous for Russia in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine.”
“The violation [by Azerbaijan of the ceasefire] is an objective reality. And the actions of Azerbaijan are a stab in the back for Russia. Russia absolutely does not need the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh to arise now, when the hostilities are taking place in Ukraine. And Azerbaijan is namely uses it,” Alexander Khramchikhin told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
When commenting on the escalation of the conflict, military expert Alexander Perendjiev has emphasized that the reaction of the Russian MoD to such actions by both Baku and Yerevan will almost always be negative, since Russia takes a neutral position. “The mission of peacekeepers is always thankless. And both sides of the conflict will have claims against those who are trying to separate them,” Alexander Perendjiev said.
According to the military expert, the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh “has reached an impasse and must be modernized.”
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2022 at 01:25 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
See earlier reports:
Azerbaijan claims calm border after “Retribution” operation, Russia’s MoD accuses Azerbaijan of breaking ceasefire regime, Baku threatened to toughen its actions in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Author: Oleg Krasnov Source: CK correspondent
Source:
© Caucasian Knot
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on August 3, Azerbaijan announced a “Retribution” operation in Nagorno-Karabakh in response to the murder of an Azerbaijani serviceman. The MoD also reported that the Azerbaijani Army had captured a number of dominant heights. Baku demanded an immediate removal of Armenian militaries from Nagorno-Karabakh and threatened “even more destructive countermeasures” in case of provocations on the contact line. The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh called for the world community to respond to Baku’s actions.
On August 4, the official Baku reacted to the statement of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which had accused Azerbaijan of violating the trilateral ceasefire agreement. The reason for the aggravation of the situation was the failure of the Armenian party to fulfil the agreement’s provision of withdrawal of troops, the Azerbaijani MFA has stated.
Over the past 24 hours, four violations of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijan Armed Forces were recorded in the responsibility zone of Russian peacemakers, the Russian MoD has reported on its website tonight.
The situation escalated in the areas of the Sarybaba and Buzdukh heights, as well as in the Mardakert District, the MoD has specified, adding that two Karabakh soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2022 at 10:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
See earlier reports:
Azerbaijani MFA considers accusations of violation of trilateral agreement hypocritical, Military experts call escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh a “knife in back” for Russia, Azerbaijan claims calm border after “Retribution” operation.
Author: The Caucasian Knot
Source:
© Caucasian Knot