While international attention is focused on the war in Ukraine, the specter of another conflict resurfaced on Tuesday, September 13, in the post-Soviet space. At least 49 Armenian soldiers and 50 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to a still provisional report.
Skirmishes occur regularly in this area, but this time the escalation is of an intensity and scale unprecedented since the end of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020. It is also the most murderous since the ceasefire signed that same year under the aegis of Moscow and which had sealed the humiliating defeat of Armenia. On Wednesday morning, the Armenian Ministry of Defense reported new fighting.
Hostilities broke out shortly after midnight on Tuesday. According to the Armenian authorities, Azerbaijani forces attacked several towns on Armenian territory, including Goris and Sotk, for ten hours in a row, with “artillery, mortars, drones and large-caliber guns”. “What is particularly worrying is that civilian infrastructure has also been targeted,” affirms to World Armenian human rights defender Kristine Grigoryan. The number of victims was still uncertain, Tuesday evening, but at least ten civilians were injured. Moscow, which claims the role of arbitrator between the two former Soviet republics, announced that it had negotiated a ceasefire agreement, theoretically in force since Tuesday morning.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan denounced a ” assault “. For its part, Azerbaijan, led by authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev, has blamed the escalation on Armenia, accused of “violates[r] intense ceasefire. “The provocations committed by the Armenian forces on the border between the two countries have been repelled, all the objectives have been fulfilled”, welcomed the presidency.
“False Equivalence”
Russia said “extremely concerned” and called on both parties to ” restraint “. The European Union (EU) called for a cessation of hostilities and announced that the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who is leading a mediation mission between Yerevan and Baku, would meet with the authorities of the two countries. The UN chief also called for “defuse tensions” while France urged “strict compliance with the ceasefire and respect for the territorial integrity of Armenia”. She added that she would take this issue to the UN Security Council, of which she currently chairs. In the United States, the head of diplomacy, Antony Blinken, underlined that the role of Moscow still arouses “worry”, but that “if Russia can really use its influence to calm things down (…)that would be positive.
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