Nagorno-Karabakh: UN calls for "an immediate end to the fighting"
The UN Security Council in New York.
Stephane LEMOUTON / POOL / AFP
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4 min
While since Sunday, the forces of the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and those of Azerbaijan clash in the deadliest fighting since 2016, the UN Security Council called on Tuesday evening in New York for a "Immediate end of the fighting".
Diplomats are aware that this is yet another area of confrontation between Turkey and Russia, which clash by proxy.
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With our correspondent in New York,
Carrie Nooten
The escalation between separatists from
Nagorno-Karabakh
and soldiers from Azerbaijan worries the Security Council all the more as it takes place in a key region, crossed by pipelines essential to the supply of the world oil and gas markets.
Moscow, which has long sold arms to both sides, has been urged to encourage an end to the fighting, while Ankara, which supports Azerbaijan, is suspected of sending mercenaries from Syria.
On Tuesday, Turkey was even accused of shooting down an Armenian Air Force fighter jet, which it immediately denied.
►Also read: Clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh: is a negotiated solution still possible?
Security Council diplomats know that escalation can go very quickly - they have seen it time and time again in Syria or Libya.
They then decided to react immediately in a joint statement.
"
The members of the Security Council strongly condemn the use of force and regret the loss of human life among the civilian population,
" said Niger Ambassador Abdou Abarry, President of the Security Council.
They express their support for the call launched by the Secretary General to both sides to immediately stop the fighting, defuse tensions and resume constructive negotiations without delay.
"
The Council reaffirmed its "
full support
" for the United States, Russia and France, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, (OSCE), and pledged to work live with diplomats from Azerbaijan and Armenia in New York, if the situation does not improve.
Russia continues to have significant leeway in Armenia, but its means of action in the region are diminishing.
On the other hand, Russian-Azerbaijani relations have been complicated in recent years and I believe that the animosity between Ankara and Moscow has played a role in this situation.
It seems to me that Russia no longer has the capacity to bring the warring parties together as it had in the past.
Paul Stronski, Caucasian researcher and specialist at the Carnegie Institute
Daniel Vallot
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