World leaders are calling for an end to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

World leaders have called for an immediate end to hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan after nearly 100 soldiers were killed in the deadliest clashes between the two Caucasian neighbors since the end of a 2020 war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On September 13, Azerbaijan's defense ministry said it had lost 50 soldiers in the fighting, while Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed in the latest outbreak of violence in the region, prompting the United States, Russia and the United Nations to call on both sides for a ceasefire. fight. But early on the morning of September 14, Armenia's Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of continuing the shelling.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on both sides to immediately de-escalate tensions, urging them to "show maximum restraint and resolve all open issues through dialogue and within existing formats," spokesman Stefan Dižarik said on September 13.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke by phone with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. His spokesman, Ned Price, said Washington would "push for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement" between the neighbors, while Philip Ricker, the US diplomat who was recently tasked with opening negotiations on the Caucasus, was in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on September 13 in an earlier scheduled visit.

Blinken told Aliyev and Pashinyan that the conflict was in "nobody's interest" and "urged them to do everything they can to withdraw from the conflict and return to talks on a lasting peace." On September 13, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing everything he could to help de-escalate hostilities. "The president is making every effort to contribute to the de-escalation of tensions on the border. These efforts are continuing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing.

Blinken said there were "always concerns" about Moscow's role in the peace process, but added: "If Russia can really use its own influence to defuse the situation ... that would be a positive thing."

The Armenian government previously said it would invoke the cooperation agreement with Moscow and appeal to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - a regional security bloc led by Russia - as well as the UN Security Council. The CSTO, which includes Armenia but not Azerbaijan, met virtually on September 13 to discuss the situation. After the meeting, the press service of the Belarusian president announced that the Secretary General of the CSTO may go to the conflict zone. Travel is suggested as one step that can be taken immediately to alleviate the situation.

The General Secretary of the CSTO, Stanislav Zas, would use the trip to prepare a detailed report. Another proposal would be to form a working group from the staff of the CSTO Secretariat and the CSTO Joint Staff to analyze the situation and draft a proposal, according to the CSTO press release.

Earlier on September 13, Russia said it had brokered a ceasefire between the two sides, but Azerbaijan accused ethnic Armenian forces of violating the agreement. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Aram Torosian denied the allegations.

Torosian said that the Azerbaijani armed forces did not stop shelling ethnic Armenian troop positions, settlements and infrastructure "not even for a minute". But he said that the shelling in some directions has significantly weakened. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said earlier that its forces were responding to Armenian "provocations" and denied claims that they had hit civilian infrastructure.

The two sides fought a 44-day war in late 2020 that killed more than 6.500 people and ended in a ceasefire brokered by Moscow, with Azerbaijan regaining control of all districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as large swaths of territory within the former autonomous areas.

About 2.000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire. The predominantly Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had the status of an autonomous region within Soviet Azerbaijan, declared independence from Baku amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, sparking the 1992-94 war. which took about 30.000 lives, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

That war left the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in control of most of the region, as well as several neighboring districts of Azerbaijan itself. Internationally mediated negotiations with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group - co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France - did not lead to a resolution.