RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST ‘LARGE-SCALE COMBAT’ IN KARABAKH

Agence France Presse — English
March 5, 2008 Wednesday

Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday warned about the threat
of pitched battles erupting after skirmishes between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

"The main thing is not to allow the situation to develop into
large-scale combat and to expand to other points along the front line,"
the ministry said in a statement.

"We call on both sides to focus their efforts on restoring the status
quo as soon as possible," the statement added.

Armenia and Azerbaijan claimed conflicting casualty figures in fighting
on Tuesday between forces from the two ex-Soviet neighbours.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said four of its soldiers and 12 Armenian
soldiers were killed in Tuesday’s clashes. Armenia’s armed forces
said they lost no soldiers, but that eight Azerbaijanis had died.

Armenia seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven surrounding
regions from Azerbaijan in a war in the early 1990s that claimed
an estimated 30,000 lives and forced about a million people on both
sides to flee their homes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress