Tuesday, Karabakh Leaders Propose Fresh Talks With Baku • Nane Sahakian Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018. Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership on Tuesday offered to hold fresh Russian-mediated talks with Azerbaijan on “humanitarian issues” stemming from the continuing Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor. It said the talks should take place at the headquarters of Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh. “The humanitarian issues include the restoration of electricity and gas supplies [to Karabakh] and the unblocking of the corridor,” Artur Harutiunian, a senior Karabakh lawmaker, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. The commanders of the peacekeepers most recently hosted such talks on March 1. The Azerbaijani government afterwards twice invited Karabakh’s representatives to Baku for talks on the Armenian-populated region’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan. The authorities in Stepanakert dismissed the offer. They said Azerbaijani and Karabakh officials should first and foremost discuss the reopening of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. They also insisted on an “internationally recognized negotiation format” for a broader political settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Baku did not immediately respond to Stepanakert’s proposal which is understood to have been communicated to it through the Russian peacekeepers. Metakse Hakobian, a Karabakh opposition figure, was skeptical about the proposal. Hakobian argued that Baku further tightened the road blockade and again blocked Armenia’s gas supplies to Karabakh following the March 1 meeting. The United States, the European Union and Russia have repeatedly urged Azerbaijan to unblock traffic through the Lachin corridor in line with the Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Baku has rejected those calls, saying that Azerbaijani government-backed protesters, who occupied a section of the road on December 12, are right to demand an end to “illegal” mining in Karabakh. On February 22, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the Azerbaijani government to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” Deadly Fighting Erupts On Armenia-Azerbaijan Border (UPDATED) • Tigran Hovsepian • Susan Badalian • Anush Mkrtchian Armenia - A new Azerbaijani army post outside the village of Tegh, April 4, 2023 At least three Azerbaijani and four Armenian soldiers were killed on Tuesday in fresh fighting that broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian Defense Ministry said that its troops came under Azerbaijani fire late in the afternoon as they fortified their positions outside Tegh, a border village in southeastern Syunik province. It said they returned fire. The skirmishes left four Armenians soldiers dead and six others wounded, according to the ministry. Tegh residents told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the fist exchange of automatic gunfire lasted for about 30 minutes. The Defense Ministry said about an hour later that the fighting resumed and intensified, with Azerbaijani forces using mortars. “Armenian army units are taking necessary defensive measures,” it said in a short statement. An RFE/RL reporter heard explosions and automatic gunfire when he approached Tegh around that time. In another update, the ministry said the situation in the area was “relatively stable” as of 8:30 p.m. local time. The Azerbaijani military blamed the Armenian side for the deadly fighting and said it is taking “adequate retaliatory measures.” It acknowledged three combat deaths in the Azerbaijani army ranks. Fighting was also reported from another section of the long border. The authorities in Yerevan did not confirm those reports. Residents of Sotk, a border village in Armenia’s eastern Gegharkunik province, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that workers of a nearby gold mine were evacuated following cross-border fire from Azerbaijani army positions. One of those workers, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the information. The clashes began in a border area where the Azerbaijani army took up new positions on March 30 after advancing into what Yerevan regards as sovereign Armenian territory adjacent to the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) claimed on April 1 that the situation in the area “improved significantly” after negotiations held by Armenian and Azerbaijani officials. Tegh residents countered, however, that the Azerbaijani troops did not retreat from any of their newly occupied positions. The Armenian opposition blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government for Baku’s fresh territorial gains. Opposition leaders said the Armenian army or border guards should have taken up positions along the Armenian side of the Tegh border section ahead of the Azerbaijani advance. Many Tegh residents also blamed the government for what they see as a serious threat to their security. Tuesday’s border clashes heightened their fears. “Don’t they up there [in government] realize that this village is in serious trouble?” said one local woman. “Are they asleep in the [defense] ministry? … Our hearts are pounding. How can we live like this?” Commenting on the situation around Tegh, Pashinian said on April 6 that Armenia should continue to exercise caution and avoid another escalation. He reaffirmed his commitment to his “peace agenda.” Yerevan Reaffirms Conditions For CSTO Mission To Armenian-Azeri Border Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov in Yerevan, March 17, 2023. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) must condemn Azerbaijan’s military aggression against Armenia before it can send a monitoring mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, a senior official in Yerevan said on Tuesday. Armenia appealed to the CSTO for military aid during the September 2022 border clashes which left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Armenian leaders afterwards accused the Russian-led military alliance of ignoring the appeal in breach of its statutes. Russia and other CSTO member states proposed such a deployment during a summit in Yerevan last November. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian turned down the offer on the grounds that they refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations along the border. Moscow has since repeatedly made clear that the offer remains on the table. “The ball is in Yerevan’s court,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said on April 5. According to Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, Yerevan is continuing to discuss the proposed monitoring mission with its ex-Soviet allies. “The Armenian side insists that the draft decision [on the dispatch of CSTO monitors] must note Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia’s sovereign territory … before we can talk about the deployment and parameters of the mission,” Khandanian told reporters. Russia, Belarus and Central Asian members of the alliance have still not agreed to do so, he said, according to the Armenpress news agency. The Armenian government has initiated instead the deployment of 100 or so European Union monitors to Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. Moscow condemned the EU mission launched in late February, saying that it is part of Western efforts to squeeze Russia out of the region. Earlier this year, Yerevan also cancelled a CSTO military exercise planned in Armenia and refused to appoint a CSTO deputy secretary-general, raising more questions about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in the organization. A senior Russian diplomat said late last month that Moscow hopes to end Yerevan’s growing estrangement from the CSTO. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.