Armenia reveals losses in border clashes with Azerbaijan

Dozens of Armenian troops have been killed in clashes with Azerbaijani forces that broke out on the border between the two former Soviet republics on Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“Our losses are 49 people killed,” Pashinyan told parliament on Tuesday morning, adding that the number wasn’t final.

“At the moment, the intensity of the fighting has decreased,” but clashes still continue in two areas, he said.

The prime minister rejected Azerbaijan’s claims that it was Armenia, which initiated the violence, and blamed Baku for launching an attack in seven locations against his country.

Azerbaijan earlier said that its military also suffered casualties as a result of the clashes, but didn’t reveal the exact figures.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on the sides “to refrain from further escalation, exercise restraint and strictly observe the ceasefire,” which had been agreed between Yerevan and Baku through Moscow’s mediation in 2020.

Back then, the neighboring countries fought a 44-day war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Baku capturing some areas, which had been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces since the early 1990s.