Russia talks raise ‘fragile’ hopes of ceasefire in Caucasus conflict

HOPES were rising for a truce last night after two weeks of fighting in the disputed Nagorno-karabakh region, amid high-level talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

France, which along with Russia and the US is part of a group mediating talks, said there was a chance of a breakthrough but it was far from certain.

“We are moving towards a truce tonight or tomorrow but it’s still fragile,” a statement from the office of Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said. However, a belligerent address from the president of Azerbaijan somewhat undermined the positive noises.

Fierce clashes, described as the worst since the end of a conflict between ethnic Armenian forces and Azerbaijani troops in the Nineties, have claimed hundreds of lives on both sides. The crisis has highlighted the growing importance of Turkey as a power broker in the South Caucasus but peace talks began after a Russian invitation – seen as a bid to reassert Moscow’s influence in the former Soviet republics. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president said on Thursday that he had spoken to the leaders of both countries and called on them to negotiate the cessation of hostilities.

Fighting in Nagorno-karabakh, a separatist, ethnically Armenian exclave within the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan, flared up at the end of last month.

Heavy shelling by both sides continued overnight, according to the authorities in Nagorno-karabakh and the Azerbaijani government.

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian president, has said he is open to a ceasefire, while Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani leader, has insisted he will not back down until Armenian forces withdraw.

In a tough-talking televised address, as the nations’ foreign ministers sat down for talks in Moscow, Mr Aliyev pledged to keep fighting until his country recaptured all of the region.

“We haven’t been given back an inch of the occupied land,” he said.

“The conflict is now being settled by military means and political means will come next,” he added, claiming that his army had liberated nine towns and villages in and around the region.

While the idea of taking the region by force may be inconceivable, some of the areas that Mr Aliyev claimed to have recaptured are situated outside Karabakh per se and largely deserted.

‘We haven’t been given back an inch of occupied land. The conflict is now being settled by military means’