Armenia says dozens killed in border clashes with Azerbaijan

By Bloomberg News

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at least 49 of his country’s soldiers were killed in border clashes with Azerbaijan early Tuesday in the deadliest fighting since a 2020 war between the Caucasus nations.

While the intensity of the conflict has declined, “Azerbaijan’s attacks continue,” Pashinyan told lawmakers, saying Armenia had appealed to Russia and other allies for help. He spoke after the Russian Foreign Ministry urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to abide “in full” by a 9 a.m. cease-fire that Moscow said it had negotiated between the sides.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces shelled towns in southern and central Armenia and also used unmanned drones in attacks. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied it started the conflict and said its forces responded to “large scale Armenian provocation.”

The fighting is the worst since thousands died on both sides in a 44-day war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh that was halted in November 2020 when Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a truce. The tensions have flared as Putin faces serious setbacks in his invasion of Ukraine with Russian troops retreating under pressure from a rapid Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Pashinyan held phone talks with Putin, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron, the premier’s office said. The U.S. is deeply concerned about the clashes “including reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia” and urges an immediate halt to hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Blinken said in a statement.

The fighting started after Armenian sabotage groups placed landmines on the Azerbaijani army’s supply lines along the state border, the Defense Ministry in Baku said Tuesday at a meeting with foreign military attaches. It reported deaths among Azerbaijani troops, without giving numbers.

Russia, the U.S. and France are members of the so-called Minsk Group of mediators that have been trying for decades to negotiate a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that erupted during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Armenia’s security council appealed to Russia for assistance under a 1997 mutual-defense treaty, as well as to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization of former Soviet states. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan also spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Russia has a military base in Armenia and sent 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the truce that halted the 2020 war. During the fighting, Azerbaijan took control of part of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is mostly populated by Armenians but internationally recognized as part of its territory, and regained seven surrounding districts that Armenian troops had occupied since the early 1990s.

Azerbaijan’s defense and foreign ministers held talks on the crisis with their Turkish counterparts. After Turkey helped Azerbaijan to win the 2020 war, the two allies signed a defense pact last year as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved to strengthen his influence in a region traditionally seen as part of Russia’s backyard.

Turkey is “always on the side of Azerbaijan,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.

Despite the truce Putin brokered, Azerbaijan and Armenia have yet to reach a peace agreement, even as the two sides have held talks to try to delineate their common border and open up transport routes. Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Aug. 31 in Brussels as part of European Union efforts to reach a deal.

Aliyev has demanded the establishment of a corridor through southern Armenia to an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Turkey. That’s been rejected by Pashinyan, who’s said the truce accord only provides for the opening of transport links between the two states, which he’s prepared to implement.

“We are not going to provide anyone with a corridor through the territory of Armenia,” Pashinyan told lawmakers. “We are ready for a peaceful resolution and have always been ready.”