After a flare-up in violence between the neighbours in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that killed three soldiers, Armenia called on the international community Wednesday to help stop Azerbaijan’s “aggressive actions”.
The Armenian foreign ministry said in a statement “Yerevan calls on the international community to take measures to stop the aggressive actions and attitude of Azerbaijan and to activate the necessary mechanisms to do so.”
Accusing Azerbaijan of breaking the Karabakh ceasefire, Russia said it was “taking measures to stabilise the situation” with Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives.
According to the Azeri defence ministry, Armenia used artillery to attack troops in the Lachin and Kalbajar regions to the west of the enclave.
Calling for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in Nagorno Karabakh, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s spokesman said in a statement “It is essential to de-escalate, fully respect the ceasefire and return to the negotiating table to seek negotiated solutions.”
Also see | Armenia and Azerbaijan: A decades-long bloody rivalry
Azeri troops regained swathes of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 which has been controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians even though the mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan.
Russia brokered a ceasefire between the two countries following which they agreed to work on a peace plan but periodically accuse each other of firing shells across the border.
In order to try to nudge the former Soviet republics toward peace, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday.
(With inputs from agencies)
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