Armenia, Azerbaijan clash again as foreign peace efforts intensify
India Today
Fresh clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday amid peace efforts by other nations. This came a day after the ex-Soviet republics witnessed their deadliest violence since 2020.
New clashes erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia on Wednesday as international peace efforts intensified a day after the ex-Soviet republics witnessed their deadliest violence since 2020.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that his small, landlocked country had appealed to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to help it restore its territorial integrity after Azerbaijani attacks.
"If we say that Azerbaijan has carried out aggression against Armenia, it means that they have managed to establish control over some territories," Pashinyan said, according to TASS news agency.
Pashinyan said 105 Armenian service personnel had been killed since the attacks began, and that the spa town of Jermuk, known across the former Soviet Union for its hot springs, had been shelled.
The violence that erupted on Tuesday along Armenia's border with Azerbaijan, which Baku blamed on Yerevan, prompted an appeal for calm from Russian President Vladimir Putin and international calls for restraint.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan told Reuters the clashes could escalate into a war - a second major armed conflict in the former Soviet Union while Russia's military is focused on the invasion of Ukraine.
A full-fledged conflict would risk dragging in Russia and Turkey, and destabilise an important corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas just as war in Ukraine disrupts energy supplies.
