Dozens dead in Azerbaijan and Armenia clashes as Putin urges cease-fire

Fierce clashes left at least 30 Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers dead Saturday as Russia and the West urged an immediate ceasefire after a major escalation in violence over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said 18 Armenian troops were killed and some 35 wounded in the “largest-scale hostilities” since a 1994 truce ended a war in which Armenian-backed fighters seized the territory from Azerbaijan. Earlier Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said that 12 of its soldiers were killed in the clashes and a military helicopter shot down.

President Putin calls on the parties in the conflict to observe an immediate ceasefire and exercise restraint in order to prevent further casualties.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

The surge in fighting over the disputed territory reportedly also claimed the lives of one Armenian and one Azeri civilian after the arch foes accused each other of unleashing heavy weaponry across the volatile frontline. Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the mountainous Nagorny Karabakh region in the early 1990s war that claimed some 30,000 lives and the foes have never signed a peace deal despite the 1994 ceasefire. The region is still internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan and the two sides frequently exchange fire across the front, but the latest episode marked a surge in violence and sparked frantic appeals for peace from international powers.

Armenia Azerbaijan