With Moscow increasingly isolated on the world stage following its February invasion of Ukraine, the European Union had taken a lead role in mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process. On Tuesday, Armenia's security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obliged under the treaty to defend Armenia in the event of a foreign invasion. Armenia is a member of CSTO but Azerbaijan is not. A delegation of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) - a Moscow-led grouping of ex-Soviet republics - arrived in Yerevan on Thursday evening, Armenia's defence ministry said. Armenia's security council said the violence ended late Thursday "thanks to international mediation" after earlier failed attempts by Moscow to broker a truce. It was the worst fighting since the two countries fought a six-week war in 2020 and comes with Armenia's closest ally Moscow distracted by its nearly seven-month war in Ukraine. "Azerbaijan targeted peaceful residents," she said - a claim which Baku flatly denies. 'International mediation' - Grigoryan said the clashes also forced hundreds of Armenian civilians to flee their homes. "This is a horrible atrocity, a violation of international humanitarian law," he told foreign diplomats in the city of Jermuk. The chief of staff of Armenia's armed forces, Eduard Asryan, accused Azerbaijani troops of committing "atrocities," saying they mutilated and dismembered the bodies of dead Armenian servicemen. Armenia's rights ombudsperson, Kristina Grigoryan, later said one civilian was also killed and six wounded in shelling by Azerbaijani forces. There are also many wounded," he told a cabinet meeting.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: "For the moment, the number of dead is 135." "Unfortunately, it is not the final figure. On Friday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry revised the death toll among its troops to 77 from an earlier reported 71. Both sides accuse each other of provoking the clashes, which erupted on Tuesday and ended with international mediation overnight on Thursday. The Caucasus neighbours have fought two wars - in 2020 and in the 1990s - over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will travel to Yerevan on Saturday after this week's escalation has largely undone recent Western efforts to bring Baku and Yerevan closer to a peace agreement. Armenia and Azerbaijan said Friday that more than 210 people died in border clashes this week, with Yerevan accusing Baku troops of atrocities in the arch foes' worst fighting in two years.
0 kommentar(er)
