Russia said on Friday that Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed on their first talks on ending the fighting against Nagorno-Karabakh, with no signs of an end to fierce fighting in the disputed region.
Russia's
foreign ministry has confirmed that senior diplomats from both countries are
joining the talks in the Russian capital following President Vladimir Putin's
appeal last night.
"Baku and
Yerevan have confirmed their participation," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova told AFP.
Armenian and
Azerbaijani defense officials said fierce clashes continued from Thursday to
Friday night, with more civilian casualties, reported after Putin announced a
meeting in Moscow and called for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Fighting broke
out late last month between Armenian separatists and Azerbaijani forces in the
disputed territory of Azerbaijan, which declared independence after the war in
the 1990s.
Both sides
have rejected growing calls for an end to the fighting, which has claimed the
lives of nearly 400 people, including dozens of civilians, and Azerbaijan has
said it wants to seize the Armenian province by a majority. Is committed to
The Kremlin
said late Thursday that after several meetings with Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Putin was pushing for
an end to hostilities in Karabakh "for the exchange of bodies and
prisoners."
The Kremlin
said the two countries' foreign ministers had been invited’ to the Russian
capital to use the talks in the middle of the Russian Foreign Ministry to end
hostilities.
After an an uncertain ceasefire was agreed’ in 1994, diplomatic efforts to find a lasting
solution to the decades-long stalemate failed.
- The growing
number of citizens -
The
announcement of Putin's talks in Moscow came shortly after international
mediators from France, Russia and the United States made their first attempt to
resolve the conflict in Geneva.
These
countries are forming the "Minsk Group" which has been trying to find
a solution to the Karabakh conflict since the 1990s, but they have failed to
stop the spread of fighting, including the deadliest clashes in decades.
But talks in
Geneva went ahead without Armenia, which refused to take part in the fighting,
and no public statement was made’ after the closed-door talks.
As fighting
resumes, both sides accuse it of shelling other populated areas, displacing
thousands.
A few days
after intermittent shelling of the disputed region's administrative center, Stepanakert,
there were signs of widespread digging and cracking ordinances, but the city
remained calm Friday morning, an AFP reporter said.
Armenia on
Thursday accused Azerbaijan of shelling the famous Ghazanchetsots (Holy Saver)
church, which caused a crack in its roof and injured several journalists.
Armenian
ombudsman Artak Beglaryan told AFP earlier this week that the new fighting had
displaced about 140,000 Karabakh residents and forced 90 percent of its women
and children out of their homes.
Dozens of
civilians have been confirmed’ dead and the Armenian side has acknowledged 350
military casualties, while Azerbaijan has not acknowledged any casualties in
it's military.
Turkey's
strong support for Azerbaijan has raised fears in the West that the conflict
could turn into a full-blown war with Moscow over Ankara, which has a military
agreement with Armenia.
Putin and
French President Emmanuel Macron are among the world leaders who this week
condemned the alleged deployment of pro-Turkish fighters from Syria and Libya
to Karabakh and Iran.
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