Nagorno-Karabakh truce holds as Russia boosts diplomatic role

Russia is taking the leading role in moves to calm the flashpoint Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh where a ceasefire between Azeri and ethnic-Armenian troops was holding on Wednesday despite some violations.

The worst fighting since 1994 between Azeri forces and Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian-backed separatists erupted last Friday night. Three days of clashes killed at least 60, injured more than 100 and stoked fears of all-out war in a strategic and volatile part of the world.

Nagorno-Karabakh borders Iran, lies near a major transit route for oil and gas being pumped to Europe from the Caspian Sea, and the clashes came at a time when Russia and Turkey – the main backers of Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively – are at loggerheads over the conflict in Syria.

Moscow sells arms to Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia, but has much closer ties with the latter, and maintains an army base and an airbase on Armenian territory, close to its closed border with Turkey.

The ceasefire was agreed at talks in Moscow on Tuesday between the military chiefs-of-staff of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought a 1988-94 war over Nagorno-Karabakh when its mostly ethnic-Armenian population rebelled against Azeri rule. More than one million people were displaced, most of them Azeris.

Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with the Azeri and Armenian leaders on Tuesday, and on Thursday Russia's prime minister Dmitry Medvedev is due to visit Armenia, while Moscow's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks in Azerbaijan.

Competition for influence in the wider Caucasus region has intensified with deep disagreement between Russia and Turkey over the war in Syria, and the shooting down of a Russian bomber by a Turkish fighter jet last November.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Russia of siding with Armenia and not being a fair broker over Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Russia likes taking sides; it has done so in Ukraine, Georgia and today in Syria,” he said, referring to recent conflicts in which Moscow was involved.

Turkey staunchly supports Azerbaijan, and both blame Armenia for the latest fighting – a claim denied by Yerevan.

Visiting Germany, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan urged the world to allow Nagorno-Karabakh’s people to “determine their own fate and their own future.”

German chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We have to do everything to stop the bloodshed . . . Because as long as the fighting goes on, no political solution can move ahead."