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Conflicts

Armenia's PM talks to Putin, Blinken on Azerbaijan truce

September 16, 2022

A tentative truce appears to be holding, but Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's office said the situation was still "very tense." Over 200 soldiers died in fighting this week.

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Armenian soldiers
On Friday morning Armenia revised its casualty numbers from 105 to 135 soldiers killed over the past several daysImage: Alexander Patrin/TASS/dpa/picture alliance

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held telephone calls on Friday with several world leaders following clashes at the border with Azerbaijan. Pashinyan spoke separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a statement, the government said Pashinyan "stressed that despite the fact the border is relatively calm at the moment, the situation continues to be very tense."

Macron's Elysee office said the French President had reaffirmed to the Armenian Prime Minister France's support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia. The UN also issued a statement welcoming the ceasefire.

A day earlier, Armenian security officials announced a truce with Azerbaijan after two days of fighting near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia's Security Council, said that "with the participation of the international community, a cease-fire has been reached."

The tentative true appeared on be holding on Friday, though the recent outbreak in violence has already claimed the lives of 71 Azeri soldiers and 135 Armenian troops, according to official sources.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said she would be traveling to Armenia on Saturday following a G7 summit in Berlin.

Worst flare-up since 2020

Both countries have blamed each other for the initial provocation.

The recent clashes are the bloodiest since the two countries went to war in 2020 over control of Nagorno-Karabakh — a region within Azerbaijan with a large Armenian population that had been under de-facto Armenian control.

Map showing Nagorno-Karabakh territory after the 2020 war

That conflict was brought to an end by the involvement of Russian peacekeeping forces. But some 6,500 troops from both sides were killed and Armenia was forced to give up control of the contested region.

es/rt (AFP, Reuters)