New clashes broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia on Wednesday as international peace efforts intensified, a day after former Soviet republics saw their deadliest violence since 2020.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that his small, landlocked country had appealed to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to help restore its territorial integrity after the Azerbaijani attacks.
“If we say that Azerbaijan has launched an offensive against Armenia, it means that they have managed to establish control over some areas,” Pashinyan said, according to the TASS news agency.
Pashinyan said that 105 Armenian service personnel had been killed since the attack began, and that the spa town of Jermuk, known in the former Soviet Union for its hot springs, was shelled.
Violence erupted on Tuesday along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan, which Baku blamed on Yerevan, prompting calls for peace from Russian President Vladimir Putin and international calls for restraint.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruir Hovnisyan told Reuters the conflict could escalate into a war – a second major armed conflict in the former Soviet Union while Russia’s forces focus on the invasion of Ukraine.
A full-fledged conflict would risk dragging Russia and Turkey, and destabilize a vital corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas just as the war in Ukraine disrupts energy supplies.
Azerbaijan accused Armenia, which is in military alliance with Moscow and home to a Russian military base, of shelling its army units.
Baku reported 50 military deaths on the first day of fighting and said on Wednesday that two civilians were also wounded.
“Our units are taking the necessary response measures,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said.
Armenia’s defense ministry, which has denied shelling Azerbaijani positions, said Wednesday’s fighting had largely subsided by noon (0800 GMT).
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield accounts from both sides.
diplomatic effort
The flare-up has sparked international concern, with Russia, the United States, France and the European Union stepping up diplomatic efforts.
Baku said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Zehun Bayramov had met with US State Department Caucasus adviser Philip Riker, telling him that Armenia should completely withdraw from Azerbaijan’s territory.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Russia could either “shake the pot” or use its influence to help “calm the waters”.
He made separate calls with Armenia’s Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to urge a ceasefire, and expressed concern, in particular, about deep shelling in Armenia.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, in a call with her counterparts from both countries, also called for an “end of attacks against Armenian territory”.
EU Special Representative Toivo Klar was due to facilitate talks in the South Caucasus on Wednesday. The CSTO also sent a delegation to assess the situation along the border.
Pashinyan pulled out of the CSTO summit in Uzbekistan on Thursday and Friday, the Sputnik news agency said, citing the state media office.
In other conflicts involving former Soviet republics, Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards exchanged fire on Wednesday in a brawl along their border in Central Asia, officials from both sides said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but as of 2020 fully populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians with Yerevan support was.
In the Six Week War that year, Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Since then, there have been periodic skirmishes despite a Russian-broker ceasefire and temporary steps on the part of both sides to reach a more comprehensive peace agreement.
Read | 99 soldiers killed in deadly border clash between Armenia, Azerbaijan
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