Renewed tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Paris seizes the UN Security Council


(Reuters) – Russia on Tuesday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to avoid an escalation in violence after deadly clashes overnight on their shared border amid a ceasefire brokered by of Moscow was immediately broken according to the local press.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that it had mediated between the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus for the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement from 09:00 Moscow time (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday. morning.

“We call on the various parties to refrain from further escalation of the situation, to exercise restraint and to strictly respect the ceasefire,” the statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Local media, however, reported that the truce was broken just minutes after it came into effect.

“The intensity of hostilities has diminished, but the attacks continue from Azerbaijan on one or two fronts,” Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also said in the morning during a speech to the Armenian Parliament, according to Interfax.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that overnight clashes with Armenian forces had left 50 dead in its ranks.

According to Interfax, the head of the Armenian government said for his part that 49 Armenian soldiers had been killed, after the forces of Baku launched the attack against Armenian positions.

Conversely, the Azerbaijani authorities accused the Armenian troops of having opened fire on their positions.

The renewed violence in the long-running dispute between Yerevan and Baku over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been followed by numerous calls for restraint from Russia, the United States and the European Union , who fear the emergence of a new armed conflict in a Europe already confronted with the war in Ukraine.

The Elysée Palace announced on Tuesday that France would bring this question before the UN Security Council, of which it currently holds the presidency.

A 44-day war opposed the two countries in the fall of 2020 around the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized by the international community as an integral part of Azerbaijan and populated mainly by Armenians.

A ceasefire agreement reached with the mediation of Russia had ended the conflict in November 2020, with the deployment by Moscow of a peacekeeping force of around 2,000 men.

(Reuters report, French version Myriam Rivet and Diana Mandiá, edited by Sophie Louet)



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