MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the deaths of Russian peacekeepers, the Kremlin press service reported.
"Aliyev apologized and expressed deep condolences over the tragic deaths of servicemen from the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh on September 20. It was emphasized that a most thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted and all those responsible will be duly punished," the Kremlin reported following the leaders' telephone conversation. "The offices for the two countries’ prosecutor generals are in close contact" in connection with the incident, it added.
"The President of Azerbaijan also expressed readiness to provide material assistance to the families of the dead," the press service of the Russian president pointed out.
The previous telephone call between the two presidents took place in mid-March. Back then, they discussed measures to ensure security and stability in the South Caucasus in line with the trilateral agreements between the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, as well as exchanged views on the development of transport-logistics and economic ties in the region.
Their most recent in-person meeting was in Moscow at the end of May after a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, when, among other things, they discussed relations between Baku and Yerevan, cooperation of the Eurasian Economic Union countries with Azerbaijan and the development of bilateral cooperation.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the breakup of the Soviet Union, but which was primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Renewed clashes erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region to ensure the operation of humanitarian corridors. On May 17, 2023, at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that Yerevan recognizes the sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its borders of 86,600 square kilometers, which includes Nagorno-Karabakh.
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression."
Russia called on the conflicting sides to prevent civilian casualties and return to a diplomatic solution. On September 20, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced that an agreement had been reached with the participation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent on the suspension of local anti-terrorist operations in Nagorno-Karabakh as of 12:00 p.m. Moscow time. Today, representatives of Baku and the Armenian population of Karabakh met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh "to discuss reintegration issues."