Pelosi to go to Armenia as cease-fire with Azerbaijan holds

“In any case, it’s all about human rights and the respecting the dignity and value of each particular person,” she mentioned.

The Armenian Protection Ministry mentioned the scenario on the border with Azerbaijan has remained quiet since the cease-fire took impact at 8 p.m. Wednesday, and no violations had been reported.

The cease-fire declaration adopted two days of heavy combating that marked the most important outbreak of hostilities in practically two years.

Armenia and Azerbaijan traded blame for the shelling, with Armenian authorities accusing Baku of unprovoked aggression and Azerbaijani officers saying their nation was responding to Armenian assaults.

Talking in parliament Friday, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan mentioned that at the very least 135 Armenian troops had been killed within the combating, revising his earlier assertion that 105 died in fight. Azerbaijan’s Protection Ministry mentioned Friday it had misplaced 77.

Edvard Asryan, the chief of the Normal Workers of the Armenian armed forces, mentioned at a briefing for international ambassadors in Yerevan that the Azerbaijani forces had solid 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) into Armenian territory close to the city of Jermuk, a spa resort in southern Armenia.

Asryan mentioned that the Azerbaijani troops additionally went 1-2 kilometers (about 1 mile) into Armenian territory close to the village of Nerkin Hand within the Syunik province and the village of Shorja within the Gegharkunik province.

He famous that the Azerbaijani forces have remained in these areas.

The ex-Soviet international locations have been locked in a decades-old battle over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a part of Azerbaijan however has been below the management of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist struggle there led to 1994.

Throughout a six-week struggle in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining territories held by Armenian forces. Greater than 6,700 individuals died within the combating, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace settlement. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the area to function peacekeepers below the deal.

Pashinyan mentioned his authorities has requested Russia for navy help amid the most recent combating below a friendship treaty, and in addition requested help from the Moscow-dominated Collective Safety Treaty Group. The safety grouping of ex-Soviet nations responded by deploying a staff of prime officers to Armenia.

Pashinyan known as Russian President Vladimir Putin when the hostilities erupted, they usually had one other name Friday to debate the scenario.

Yerevan’s plea for assist has put the Kremlin in a precarious place because it has sought to keep up shut relations with Armenia, which hosts a Russian navy base, and in addition develop heat ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan.

Putin on Friday is scheduled to satisfy with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Group summit within the Uzbekistan metropolis of Samarkand. The Russian chief can be set to have talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose nation has strongly backed Azerbaijan.

Talking on the summit, Aliyev accused Armenia of “a large-scale navy provocation” that derailed efforts to barter a peace treaty. “The Armenian provocation has dealt a heavy blow to the method of normalizing ties between our international locations,” Aliyev mentioned.

Pashinyan advised lawmakers earlier this week that Armenia is able to acknowledge Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in a future peace treaty, supplied that it relinquishes management of areas in Armenia its forces have seized.

The opposition noticed the assertion as an indication of Pashinyan’s readiness to undergo Azerbaijani calls for and acknowledge Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. 1000’s of indignant protesters besieged the federal government’s headquarters and the nation’s parliament throughout the previous two days, accusing Pashinyan of treason. Protests had been additionally held in different Armenian cities.

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen contributed to this report.