With Russia distracted, the country of Azeri launched attack on the enclave

War crimes against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan’s military launches anti-terrorist measures

MOSCOW — Azerbaijan’s military announced it has launched “localized anti-terrorist measures” after landmines killed four soldiers and two civilians early Tuesday in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The majority ethnic Armenian territory, located within Azerbaijan, has been the source of conflicts and wars between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the late Soviet period.

The contingent of 2,000 Russians that was installed after the end of large-scale hostilities in 2020 has not acted against the military offensive being waged by the Azeri government.

Turkey has increasingly filled a void in the South Caucasus as Russia focuses its resources on the war in Ukraine.

The aim of the current mission is to “disarm and remove” the forces that are operating inside the enclave. The Defense Ministry denies that any of its troops are in the area.

Azerbaijan’s military said it was using “precision weapons” in carrying out air strikes. Former representatives from the self-declared government in Stepanakert claimed “mass shelling” had begun.

Western powers have become more involved in mediation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh, which has ebbed and flowed in recent months.

On the one hand, there were signs of apparent progress: Western-backed peace talks earlier this year led the leadership in Yerevan to declare Armenia was ready to formally recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as belonging to Azerbaijan — provided security guarantees were offered to ethnic Armenians living there.

The terms of negotiations have been dictated by a partial blockade of humanitarian goods, growing military superiority and Russia’s preoccupation with the war in Ukraine.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: a diplomatic solution to the crisis? Armenia’s security architecture, Putin’s arrest warrant, and the NATO peacekeeping mission

A continent of 85 U.S. troops are currently carrying out joint drills with Armenian forces near Yerevan under a 10-day NATO peacekeeping training mission.

The International Criminal Court has a warrant out for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin over his actions in Ukraine, and the government of Armenia supports joining the body.

“Armenia’s security architecture was 99.999% linked to Russia, including when it came to the procurement of arms and ammunition,” he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica earlier this month.

“But today, we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons, arms and ammunition. And in this situation, it’s understandable that even if it wishes so, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia’s security needs.”

Reacting to the latest outbreak in fighting, Russia’s foreign ministry called for both sides to return to a cease-fire and a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

There has been a cease fire in Nagorno-Karabukh, where ethnic Turkish forces have been fighting against the Azeri army for several days. The Russian Ministry of Defense brokered the deal.

The enclave was left with few options to ensure the safety of its civilian population after a lack of concrete actions by international parties, according to the foreign affairs ministry.

Rather than stand down its military, Azerbaijan’s government vowed to continue fighting until ethnic Armenian forces agreed to a total surrender. More than 400 people have been wounded in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which Azerbaijan has characterized as an “anti-terrorist” operation.

The Armenian Warfare after the Warsaw Reionization Summit: Stronski on the Call for Interactions in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Under the new cease-fire, Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist government promised to disperse army units and hand over military hardware ahead of “reintegration talks.”

News of the halt in fighting follows large protests in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, calling on the government to intervene on behalf of Nagorno-Karabakh’s majority ethnic Armenian population.

Here’s how Paul Stronski of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace described the dynamic to NPR’s Morning Edition last year, during another flareup of violence: