At least 49 Armenian soldiers were killed in clashes on the border with Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during a speech at the Armenian Parliament in Yerevan on Tuesday.
“Currently we have 49 dead (soldiers) … and unfortunately that is not the final number,” he said.
“The fighting continues in one or two directions,” Pashinian told parliament, noting that “the intensity of hostilities has decreased” this morning.
Azerbaijan has also admitted losses during these clashes, which started on Monday, but without specifying the exact number of casualties.
Moscow and Yerevan said today that they were committed to taking measures to “stabilize the situation” on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the scene of major clashes since Monday, according to a statement from the Armenian Defense Ministry.
In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, Armenian Defense Minister Souren Papikian “presented the situation resulting from Azerbaijan’s large-scale aggression,” the ministry says.
The two men “agreed to take the necessary steps to stabilize the situation,” the statement added.
On the other hand, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, today called on Armenia to “stop its provocations” against Azerbaijan, after the resumption of intense fighting on the border between the two countries.
“Armenia must stop its provocations and focus on peace and cooperation negotiations” with Baku, the Turkish minister said in a message posted on the social network Twitter.
Nikol Pashinian today also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin, French Head of State Emmanuel Macron and US Chief Diplomat Antony Blinken to react to Azerbaijan’s “aggression”.
During separate talks, Pashinian said he expects “an adequate response from the international community” as clashes continue on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, according to the Yerevan government.
The Armenian Ministry of Defense denounced on Monday an attack by Azerbaijan with artillery and drones against several Armenian cities near the common border.
The Armenian authorities had already accused Azerbaijan of military “provocation” on the border with Armenia.
The two countries dispute various border areas, including the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a non-Azerbaijani enclave occupied by Armenia, which provoked a violent armed conflict between 1993 and 1994, with thousands of victims, before a ceasefire that was violated repeatedly.
Source: TSF
