Russia accused Azerbaijan on Saturday of having violated the ceasefire agreement reached with Armenia after the war for the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

The rise in tension in that region of the Caucasus occurs in the midst of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Azeri troops entered on March 24 and 25 “in the area under the responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Populated mostly by Armenians, the Nagorno-Karabakh region separated from Azerbaijan after the dismemberment of the Soviet Union. That separation caused a war in the 1990s, which left 30,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of refugees.

A new conflict broke out in 2020, which left more than 6,500 dead in six weeks and ended with a defeat for Armenia, which had to cede several regions around Nagorno-Karabakh.

The two countries signed a ceasefire, mediated by Moscow, and Russian peacekeeping troops were deployed to the disputed region.

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