Rocket fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, October 1, 2020. -

Hayk Baghdasaryan / PHOTOLURE / AFP

In a joint statement released on Thursday, Russian Presidents Vladimir Poutin, French Presidents Emmanuel Macron and American Donald Trump called for “the immediate cessation of hostilities” in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist Azerbaijani territory supported by Armenia.

The “Minsk group”, formed in 1992 to mediate this issue, which brings together France, Russia and the United States, called on “the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage without delay to resume substantive negotiations ”under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Syrian jihadists on the spot

"We condemn in the strongest terms the escalation of recent violence on the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone," add the leaders of the three countries, who are thus coordinating their diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. after having each expressed himself in this direction these last days, in dispersed order.

Arriving Thursday in Brussels where a European summit is being held, the French President revealed that he "has information today with certainty which indicates that Syrian fighters of jihadist groups have left the theater of operations by passing through Gaziantep to reach this theater of operations in Nagorno-Karabakh ”.

"It is a very serious new fact, which changes the situation," he added.

Nearly 130 dead in a few days

The Minsk group never managed to end the clashes along the front line.

Nagorny Karabakh (or Nagorno-Karabakh), mostly populated by Armenians, seceded from Azerbaijan at the end of the USSR, leading to a war in the early 1990s that left 30,000 dead.

Large-scale fighting between Azerbaijani forces and Yerevan-backed separatists resumed Sunday and continued on Thursday.

According to partial reports, they killed at least 128 people.

On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, Vladimir Poutine and Emmanuel Macron had once again called for a truce.

The day before, in Riga, Emmanuel Macron had also said he was “concerned” by “warlike” declarations from Turkey, which supports Baku.

Russia, which maintains cordial relations with the two ex-Soviet republics, has also expressed concern over the role of Turkey, its geopolitical competitor in the region.

World

Caucasus: "Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in permanent tension since 1988"

  • World

  • Cease-fire

  • Vladimir Poutine

  • Donald trump

  • Azerbaijan

  • Emmanuel Macron

  • Conflict

  • Karabakh

  • Armenia