Armenia’s leader urged Russia Saturday to consider providing security assistance to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the biggest escalation in the decades-long conflict between his country and Azerbaijan.
Following more than a month of intense fighting in which Azerbaijani troops forged into the separatist territory, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian asked Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to quickly discuss possible security aid to his country.
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Armenia’s leader urged Russia Saturday to consider providing security assistance to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the biggest escalation in the decades-long conflict between his country and Azerbaijan.
The request came as Azerbaijani troops forged deeper into Nagorno-Karabakh and both sides accused each of breaking a mutual pledge not to target residential areas hours after it was made.
On Friday, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Geneva for a day of talks, which were brokered by Russia, the United States and France, co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that tries to mediate the decades-long conflict.
The rapid failure of the latest attempt to contain the fighting follows the collapse of three successive cease-fires. A U.S.-brokered truce frayed immediately after it took effect Monday, just like two previous cease-fires negotiated by Russia. The warring sides have repeatedly blamed each other for violations.
Men carry goods past a shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
A toy shop owner looks for undamaged goods at his shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
A woman says goodbye to her relatives as they sit in a bus preparing to leave Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. The Azerbaijani army has closed in on a key town in the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh following more than a month of intense fighting. (AP Photo)
There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.
A toy shop owner gestures at his shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
The request came as Azerbaijani troops forged deeper into Nagorno-Karabakh and both sides accused each of breaking a mutual pledge not to target residential areas hours after it was made.
Russia, which has a military base in Armenia and has signed a pact obliging it to protect its ally in case of foreign aggression, faces a delicate balancing act, of trying to maintain good ties with Azerbaijan and avoid a showdown with Turkey.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. The latest outburst of hostilities began Sept. 27 and left hundreds — perhaps thousands — dead, marking the worst escalation of fighting since the war’s end.
A dog walks past a shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
On Friday, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Geneva for a day of talks, which were brokered by Russia, the United States and France, co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that tries to mediate the decades-long conflict.
The talks concluded close to midnight with the two sides agreeing they “will not deliberately target civilian populations or non-military objects in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
But shortly after the mutual pledge was announced by the Minsk Group co-chairs, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities accused Azerbaijani forces of firing rockets at a street market and a residential building in the separatist region's capital, Stepanakert. They said that residential areas in the town of Shushi also came under Azerbaijani shelling.
Shop owners remove debris from their shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
The rapid failure of the latest attempt to contain the fighting follows the collapse of three successive cease-fires. A U.S.-brokered truce frayed immediately after it took effect Monday, just like two previous cease-fires negotiated by Russia. The warring sides have repeatedly blamed each other for violations.
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
A man walks past a shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
Men carry goods past a shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
A toy shop owner looks for undamaged goods at his shop damaged by shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery at a market in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani military targeted a street market in Stepanakert and residential areas of Shushi on Saturday in violation of a mutual pledge not to target residential areas made after talks in Geneva. (AP Photo)
A woman says goodbye to her relatives as they sit in a bus preparing to leave Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. The Azerbaijani army has closed in on a key town in the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh following more than a month of intense fighting. (AP Photo)