Russia brokered a ceasefire on the Armenia-Azerbaijani border late on Tuesday morning, but renewed, though less intense, fighting was reported an hour later, Mr Pashinyan told parliament. The Armenian leader spoke with Putin, requesting military assistance as part of their obligations as members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Moscow has not commented on the request, but Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Tuesday that the president was “making every effort to help de-escalate border tensions”.
Countries urged not to ‘waste ceasefire agreement’
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has called for a ceasefire, urging the parties not to “waste” the ceasefire agreement that has been largely adhered to for two years. Later on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office promised to raise the hostilities at the UN Security Council this week. Azerbaijan launched the attack at a time when Russia’s attention is fully focused on its devastating losses in Ukraine, while Azerbaijan is being bolstered by its long-time ally Turkey, which has supplied it with modern weapons, including fighter drones. Turkey on Tuesday threw its weight behind Azerbaijan as Hulusi Akar, the country’s defense minister, accused Armenia of instigating the fighting and pledged to stand by Baku “in its just cause”. The clashes erupted less than two weeks before Armenia was due to hand over the so-called Lachin Corridor, a mountain road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of being slow to implement parts of the ceasefire agreement and repeatedly violating the ceasefire, a claim Yerevan has denied.
