Armenia’s government has made a decision to officially ask for help from Russia, member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), and the United Nations Security Council after the hostilities that had taken place in the early hours of September 13 on the border with Azerbaijan. The government announced its decision in a statement posted on Telegram.
Armenia seeks Russia’s help as part of the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance between the two countries.
Armenia’s Defence Minister Suren Papikyan held a phone conversation with the Russian Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu, during which they agreed to undertake the “necessary steps towards the stabilisation of the situation”.
Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry stated that “in response to the large-scale provocation of Armenia”, the country was “conducting local countermeasures and neutralising firing points”.
“Armenia's ongoing military adventurism and revanchism policy, intensive shelling of the positions of the Azerbaijan Army in the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Gadabay directions over the past month and its large-scale provocations today are the main reasons for the aggravation of the situation. Military-political leadership of Armenia bears responsibility for all of these,” reads the statement from the ministry.
In the meantime, Azerbaijani news agency Trend, citing sources, reported that Azerbaijan and Armenia had agreed to a cease fire starting from 9AM local time (GMT+4).
“Furthermore, the Armenian side had broken this agreement, however, starting from 9:15AM the ceasefire was nevertheless established,” reports the news agency (the quote is by Russia’s state news agency TASS). This information has not yet been confirmed.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the country was deeply concerned “about reports of active hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan”. “There can be no military solution to the conflict,” he stated.
In the early hours of September 13, the Armenian Ministry of Defence reported an Azerbaijan-conducted shelling of Armenia’s territory not far away from the non-recognised Nagorno-Karabakh. The shelled towns, Goris and Jermuk, are not part of Nagorno-Karabakh and are internationally recognised to be Armenian. In response, Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry released a statement accusing Yerevan of a “large-scale military provocation”.
The last escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place at the end of August — back then the Azerbaijani army captured the Lachin city and the villages of Zabukh and Sus located in Nagorno-Karabakh.
