Fighting began on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Pashinyan appealed to Russia and the CSTO for help

Fighting broke out on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

This was reported by the Defense Ministries of both countries.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan accused Armenia of "large-scale provocation", in response to which the Azerbaijani army uses "local countermeasures".

"Armeniaʼs continued policy of military adventurism and revanchism, intensive shelling of the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the Kelbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Gedabay directions during the last month and the large-scale provocations it carried out today are the main reasons for the escalation of the conflict. Therefore, the responsibility lies with the military and political leadership of Armenia," the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan noted.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia stated that as of this morning the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remained extremely tense. The Azerbaijani side seems to be continuing intensive shelling with artillery, mortars, drones and large-caliber guns. Both military and civilian infrastructure are under attack. "In some areas, Azerbaijani units resorted to positional advancement," the Ministry of Defense of Armenia notes.

The website of the Armenian government reports that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. In a conversation with the latter, Pashinyan said that he had asked for help from Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

• The Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Russiaʼs Putin signed a joint statement on ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lasted for a month and a half (since September 27) on the night of November 10, 2020. The sides suffered significant losses — thousands of soldiers were killed and hundreds of civilians were wounded during the shelling of cities. In this war, Azerbaijan won 40% of the territory of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including the city of Shusha.
• Aliyev accused Russia and Armenia of violating the agreements that were spelled out in the declaration on the cessation of hostilities in July of this year. Later, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Hryhoryan, promised to withdraw troops from Nagorno-Karabakh in September.
• The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, confirmed the control of the city of Lachin and the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh at the end of August. It was the only road connecting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.