Despite earlier claims of a ceasefire, fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia continued Wednesday, a day after nearly 100 dogfaces failed in clashes, according to the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministries of defense.
Russia suggested it had brokered a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a statement Tuesday, but it proved short-lived.
The Russian- mediated ceasefire was “ nearly incontinently broken, ” according to US National Security Council fellow for strategic dispatches John Kirby.
Armenia’s Ministry of Defense on Wednesday indicted Azerbaijan of attacking again, claiming ordnance, mortar, and “ large- quality arms ” had been fired at three Armenian municipalities, including Jermuk near the border between the two countries.
In a series of tweets, the ministry claimed that “ the entire responsibility ” for the current clashes and any unborn developments falls on Azerbaijan. Armenia’s government said Tuesday that at least 49 Armenian service members had been killed in action.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, twittered Wednesday that some of its military units were also being subordinated to ordnance fire. In a statement, its Ministry of Defense said a felonious case had been opened into the case of two civilians injured as a result of the ongoing conflict with Armenia.
“ Two civilians were wounded as a result of a large-scale provocation committed on the night of September 12 by the Armenian fortified forces, ” the statement read. “ The data are presently being delved. ”
Fifty Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in deadly clashes on Tuesday, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They included 42 members of the Azerbaijan Army and eight members of the State Border Service, it said.
Still, it could place crucial oil painting and gas channels in jeopardy, aggravating issues with energy inventories formerly disintegrated by the war in Ukraine, If the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues.
For decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a disagreement over the Nagorno- Karabakh region, a landlocked area between Eastern Europe and Western Asia that's peopled and controlled by ethnical Armenians but located in Azerbaijani home.
The uneasiness in the region dates back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the region, backed by Armenia, declared independence from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has long claimed it'll regain the home, which is internationally honored as Azerbaijani.
In November 2020, renewed fighting broke out in the region for nearly two months, killing at least,500 people, according to Reuters. the conflict ended after Armenian- backed secessionists agreed to relinquish control over homes in the restive region. Russia helped broker the ceasefire deal between the two countries, which saw President Vladimir Putin shoot peacekeeping forces along the contact line in Nagorno- Karabakh.
“ As far as we know, that peacekeeping presence is still there, ” Kirby told journalists Tuesday. When asked if Russia could budge its colors to Armenia, Kirby said “ We haven’t seen any suggestion that Russian forces are displacing now. ”
On Tuesday, Armenia called on Russia to apply a 1997 defense convention that stipulates the countries will defend each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in the event of an attack by a foreign country.
“ A decision was made to officially apply to the Russian Federation for the perpetration of the vittles of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and collective backing, to the Collaborative Security Treaty Organization and the UN Security Council regarding the aggression against the autonomous home of the Republic of Armenia, ” a statement from the Armenian Prime Minister’s office read.
The request followed a session with the Armenian Security Council and a call between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Putin, according to a statement from Pashinyan’s office.
Just hours after Moscow said it had eased a ceasefire between the two nations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concern that Russia could try to “ stir the pot ” between Armenia and Azerbaijan “ to produce a distraction from Ukraine. ”
Kirby said the US was “ laboriously engaged ” in trying to help end the violence, adding that Blinken had spoken with both the chairman of Azerbaijan and the high minister of Armenia.
“ We ’re laboriously engaged with both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Governments to see what we can do to end this violence, ” Kirby told journalists Tuesday.