Attack despite ceasefire: Azerbaijan shoots at "provocations"

Sunday 13th December 2020

Attack despite the armistice
Azerbaijan shoots after "provocations"

One month after the end of the bloody fighting in the conflict region Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, several soldiers were injured again in a shooting there. The area authorities speak of an attack by Azerbaijan on one of its military posts.

The Russian army has reported a violation of the ceasefire agreement in the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow said the incident took place in Hadrut district on Friday.

The regional defense ministry had previously reported attacks on two villages by Azerbaijani forces. The Defense Ministry in Azerbaijan said that "appropriate countermeasures" had been taken after "provocations". Meanwhile the ceasefire is respected again.

A spokesman for the Russian troops in the region confirmed to the Ria Novosti news agency that there had been "exchanges of fire with automatic weapons". Both parties to the conflict had been asked to respect the ceasefire.

Three pro-Armenian fighters injured

According to the Nagorno-Karabakh regional defense ministry, three pro-Armenian fighters were wounded in a gun battle with Azerbaijani armed forces. Accordingly, Armenian fighters were attacked by Azerbaijani troops on Friday evening.

After six weeks of heavy fighting between the warring neighboring states of Armenia and Azerbaijan, a ceasefire agreement was reached on November 9th with Russian mediation, resulting in significant territorial losses for Armenia. According to Armenia and Azerbaijan, more than 5,000 people were killed during the fighting. Around 2,000 Russian soldiers are currently stationed in the region to monitor compliance with the agreement.

Republic is not recognized

Nagorno-Karabakh had unilaterally declared its independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union. This was followed by a war with 30,000 dead in the 1990s. The self-proclaimed republic is still not recognized internationally and is considered part of Azerbaijan under international law. Most of it is inhabited by Armenians.

Meanwhile, representatives of the so-called Minsk Group met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Saturday. On Sunday, the Frenchman Stephane Visconi and the US representative Andrew Schofer were expected in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

The USA, France and Russia jointly lead the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which was set up in 1992 to defuse the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.