Friday,
Ukrainian Envoy Says Rada Tweet On Karabakh ‘Not Reflecting Kyiv’s Position’
• Marine Khachatrian
Ukrainian Chargé d’Affaires to Armenia Denis Autonomov during a news conference
in Yerevan. March 24, 2022.
A post on the official Twitter account of Ukraine’s parliament regarding
Nagorno-Karabakh “does not reflect the position of official Kyiv,” Ukrainian
Chargé d’Affaires to Armenia Denis Autonomov said on Friday.
In its tweet on March 25 the Verkhovna Rada welcomed Azerbaijan’s latest actions
in Nagorno-Karabakh in the context of the ongoing Russian aggression against
Ukraine.
“Azerbaijani armed forces have gone on the offensive in Karabakh, taking
advantage of the circumstance that Russia has been sending its troops to
Ukraine,” it said, echoing media reports that Moscow has been redeploying some
of its troops stationed in Armenia as well as peacekeepers stationed in
Nagorno-Karabakh as reinforcements for fighting in Ukraine.
The tweet was posted amid reports of renewed fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in
which at least three Armenian soldiers were killed and over a dozen wounded on
Friday.
“This post does not reflect the position of official Kyiv in the context that we
cannot be happy about a war. Now a war is ongoing in Ukraine as well. The issue
was not discussed in the Verkhovna Rada, no decision was made. Our position on
the territorial integrity of other countries is very well known. It applies to
Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan,” Autonomov said.
Official Yerevan has taken a neutral position on the Russian-Ukrainian war,
which was earlier hailed by the Ukrainian diplomat.
The Ukrainian parliament’s Twitter post that caused anger in Armenian social
media was later removed. The Ukrainian diplomat found it difficult to say why
such a post appeared on an official account. “It is difficult for me to say who
and why did such a thing. But now that tweet has been removed,” he said.
Talking to the news website Factor.am today, Armenian Ambassador to Ukraine
Vladimir Karapetian said that the Armenian embassy in Kyiv acted promptly on the
tweet. “Due to our intervention immediately after the start of working hours
here, it was deleted within 15 minutes,” he said.
Karapetian said that the issue had been discussed with all relevant bodies of
Ukraine and was considered “closed.”
‘Clear Answers’ Sought From Russian Peacekeepers Over Escalation In
Nagorno-Karabakh
• Naira Nalbandian
Nagorno-Karabakh - Armored vehicles of Russian peacekeepers move along the road
towards Agdam from their checkpoint outside Askeran (file photo).
Armenia expects Russian peacekeepers to provide “clear answers” over the latest
escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh where at least three Armenian soldiers were
killed and 14 wounded in recent clashes with reportedly advancing Azerbaijani
troops, a senior pro-government lawmaker in Yerevan said today.
Civil Contract faction member Eduard Aghajanian, who heads the parliament’s
foreign relations committee, noted that the areas in the east of
Nagorno-Karabakh that Azerbaijani forces took control of as a result of their
advancement on March 24-25 were in the zone of Russian peacekeepers’
responsibility under the terms of the November 2020 ceasefire between Armenia
and Azerbaijan brokered by Moscow.
Eduard Aghajanian
“In fact, advancing Azerbaijani armed forces appeared behind the Russian
peacekeepers’ backs. According to a corresponding provision of the November 9,
2020 trilateral statement, this is the area of responsibility for the Russian
peacekeepers. Therefore, we expect clear answers from our Russian partners as to
in what conditions this happened,” Aghajanian said.
The Armenian lawmaker said that Yerevan expected the problem to be solved
“within the shortest possible time.”
“We expect that the Azerbaijani armed forces will withdraw and return to the
positions from where they launched their advancement,” Aghajanian said.
He noted the use of attack drones, including Bayraktar TB-2s, by Azerbaijan
during its advancement that sparked skirmishes with Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic
Armenian forces.
“We are talking about a very specific escalation, in connection with which our
questions are first of all addressed to our Russian partners who, as we assume,
should have excluded it in the area of their responsibility,” Aghajanian said.
Authorities in Stepanakert, meanwhile, said on Friday that so far Russian
peacekeepers have been unsuccessful in trying to achieve the withdrawal of
Azerbaijani forces from the area of their responsibility.
They added that they still hoped that “due to decisive efforts of the Russian
side it will be possible to achieve the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani troops and
Armenian civilians will be able to return to their homes.”
“Otherwise, the security guarantees given to the civilian population in
Nagorno-Karabakh will be seriously questioned,” Nagorno-Karabakh’s Information
Headquarters, a body affiliated with the region’s de-facto government, said.
Ethnic Armenian Soldiers Killed In Nagorno-Karabakh
At least three ethnic Armenian soldiers have been killed in Nagorno-Karabakh as
more fighting was reported in the region on Friday afternoon.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Army said Azerbaijani army units continued to violate
the ceasefire in the east of the region, using firearms and attack drones,
including Bayraktar TB-2s.
“Two contract soldiers of the Defense Army were killed because of the actions of
the enemy. The number of those wounded is being verified,” it said, initially.
Later on Friday, the death toll rose to 3.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s military said that the situation in the east of the region
remained “extremely tense” as of Friday afternoon.
Earlier today the Defense Army said that at least five Armenian soldiers were
wounded in overnight skirmishes with Azerbaijani forces that it claimed
attempted to advance further into the territory which is now the zone of
responsibility of Russian peacekeepers who were deployed in the region after the
2020 war.
Later, the number of wounded soldiers rose to 14.
Authorities in Stepanakert admitted that Azerbaijani forces took control of one
Armenian village in the eastern Askeran district. They said that they are in
“active dialogue” with commanders of the Russian peacekeeping force over the
situation.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has denied Armenian reports about fighting in the
region. According to Azerbaijani media, it said that “specifications of
positions and locations are taking place on the ground without any use of force.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, accused Armenia of attempting “to
mislead the international community” by what it described as disinformation
about the situation on the ground.
In its March 25 statement it said that “at this moment the only way of ensuring
peace and stability in the region is a full implementation of the clauses of the
signed joint statements, including a full withdrawal from the region of the
remaining illegal Armenian armed groups and normalization of relations on the
basis of international legal principles.”
Official Yerevan has blamed Azerbaijan for the latest escalation in
Nagorno-Karabakh, also accusing Baku of not respecting the terms of the
Russia-brokered ceasefire.
It said that Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian had a telephone
conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu on March 24 to discuss
the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to Russia’s Tass news agency, Shoigu also discussed tensions in
Nagorno-Karabakh with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Armenia
and Azerbaijan to exercise restraint against the backdrop of the escalation of
tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Soviet Azerbaijan, has been claiming
its independence from Baku since the collapse of the Soviet Union and a
separatist war waged in the early 1990s that also led to ethnic Armenians making
territorial gains inside Azerbaijan proper.
The standoff with Baku led to another war in September-November 2020 in which
nearly 7,000 soldiers and more than 200 civilians were killed. As a result of
that war Azerbaijani forces gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well
as seven adjacent districts that had been under Armenian control since 1994.
Some 2,000 Russian troops were deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire
following the Moscow-brokered truce.
Karabakh Says Ethnic Armenian Soldiers Wounded In Skirmish With Azerbaijan
An ethnic Armenian soldier near the line of contact with Azerbaijani forces in
Nagorno-Karabakh (file photo).
At least five ethnic Armenian soldiers were reportedly wounded in
Nagorno-Karabakh overnight in a skirmish with Azerbaijani forces that the
region’s de facto authorities have accused of violating the line of contact and
taking control of one village.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Army said that Azerbaijan used firearms of different
calibers as well as attack drones in engaging ethnic Armenian forces early on
March 25.
“As a result of the skirmish five Armenians soldiers were wounded,” the Defense
Army said, claiming that at least five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in the
fight.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied reports from the Armenian side both about
the fighting and casualties on the Azerbaijani side, describing such reports as
“media provocation.”
It said, as quoted by Azerbaijani media, that “specifications of positions and
locations are taking place on the ground without any use of force.”
The Defense Army said that the situation was “relatively stable” as of Friday
morning.
“We expect the Russian peacekeepers to take measures to make the Azerbaijani
forces to withdraw to their initial positions,” the Nagorno-Karabakh military
said in a statement.
Earlier reports from Stepanakert said that Azerbaijani forces had violated the
line of contact from the Agdam district east of Nagorno-Karabakh and advanced
into the village of Parukh in the region’s Askeran district.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry on Thursday denied any advancement of its troops
“in the territory of Azerbaijan where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is
temporarily deployed.” Instead, it spoke about “specifications of positions and
locations on the ground,” stressing that “no clashes or incidents had occurred.”
The latest escalation of tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh was condemned by Armenia’s
Foreign Ministry, which issued a statement late on March 24 accusing Azerbaijan
of violating the terms of the ceasefire brokered by Russia following a deadly
war in the region in the fall of 2020.
The ministry said that the situation was also discussed in a telephone
conversation between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried.
“Both sides highlighted the importance of steps aimed at de-escalation [in
Nagorno-Karabakh],” the Armenian ministry said.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported late on Thursday that the
situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed in a telephone conversation between
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian and his Russian counterpart Sergey
Shoigu.
“Sergey Shoigu gave assurances that the situation was in the center of the
Russian side’s attention and that necessary steps were being taken to resolve it
peacefully,” the Armenian ministry said.
According to Russia’s Tass news agency, Shoigu also discussed tensions in
Nagorno-Karabakh with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Soviet Azerbaijan, has been claiming
its independence from Baku since the collapse of the Soviet Union and a
separatist war waged in the early 1990s that also led to ethnic Armenians making
territorial gains inside Azerbaijan proper.
The standoff with Baku led to another war in September-November 2020 in which
nearly 7,000 soldiers and more than 200 civilians were killed. As a result of
that war Azerbaijani forces gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well
as seven adjacent districts that had been under Armenian control since 1994.
Some 2,000 Russian troops were deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire
following the Moscow-brokered truce.
Armenia Slams Azerbaijan Over ‘Aggressive Actions’ In Nagorno-Karabakh
The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan (file photo).
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of further aggressive actions against Armenians
of Nagorno-Karabakh as de facto authorities of the region reported advancement
of Azerbaijani troops at one section of the line of contact denied by Baku.
In a statement issued late on Thursday the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that
“such actions by Baku seriously endanger regional stability and peace.”
It said that in late afternoon Azerbaijani armed forces violated the line of
contact with Nagorno-Karabakh in the area of responsibility of the Russian
peacekeeping mission and moved into the village of Parukh in the region’s
eastern Askeran district.
“These aggressive actions of Azerbaijan once again demonstrate that official
Baku continues to grossly violate the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020,
according to which the hostilities were ceased, the sides stopped in their
positions and peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation were deployed along
the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Armenian ministry said.
“These actions were preceded by Azerbaijan’s complete disruption of the only gas
pipeline supplying Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh – red.], the targeting of civilian
infrastructure with large-caliber weapons, terrorizing threats towards the
Armenians of Artsakh, and other steps aimed at ethnic cleansing. Moreover, along
with the drastic escalation of the security situation in Europe, such actions by
Baku seriously endanger regional stability and peace,” it added.
The ministry said that Yerevan expects that “the Russian peacekeeping force in
whose area of responsibility the provocation takes place will undertake measures
to ensure that the Azerbaijani troops immediately return to their initial
positions and adhere to the commitments undertaken under the November 9
Trilateral Statement.”
“We call on the international community to make a clear assessment of
Azerbaijan’s provocative actions aimed at undermining the peace process and to
support efforts for establishing peace in the South Caucasus and achieving a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the Armenian Foreign
Ministry said.
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said late on Thursday that the situation in the
villages of Parukh and Khramort of the region’s Askeran district was under the
control of the Russian peacekeeping force.
“As a result of negotiations and additional measures to ensure security, the
advancement of the Azerbaijani armed forces has been stopped at the moment, but
the adversary has not yet withdrawn to its initial positions,”
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Information Headquarters, an agency affiliated with the
region’s de facto government, said.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has denied any advancement of its troops “in the
territory of Azerbaijan where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily
deployed.”
In a statement issued yesterday it said that “specifications of positions and
locations are taking place on the ground” and that “no clashes or incidents have
occurred.”
“Armenian media artificially exaggerate the situation. The goal is to create an
atmosphere that can cause hysteria and mislead the public. There is no reason to
worry,” the ministry said, as quoted by the Azerbaijani news website Haqqin.az.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported late on Thursday that the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed in a telephone conversation between Armenian
Defense Minister Suren Papikian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.
“Sergey Shoigu gave assurances that the situation was in the center of the
Russian side’s attention and that necessary steps were being taken to resolve it
peacefully,” the Armenian ministry said in a statement.
Issues pertaining to regional security were also discussed in a telephone
conversation between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried,
which was also reported on March 24.
“Both sides highlighted the importance of steps aimed at de-escalation [in
Nagorno-Karabakh],” the Armenian ministry said in a statement.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Soviet Azerbaijan, has been claiming
its independence from Baku since the collapse of the Soviet Union and a
separatist war waged in the early 1990s that also led to ethnic Armenians making
territorial gains inside Azerbaijan proper.
The standoff with Baku led to another war in 2020 in which about 7,000 soldiers
and more than 200 civilians were killed. As a result of that war Azerbaijani
forces gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as seven adjacent
districts that had been under Armenian control since 1994.
Some 2,000 Russian troops were deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire
following a Moscow-brokered truce.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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