As of: November 16, 2021 9:41 pm
In the renewed conflict with Azerbaijan, Armenia has announced a ceasefire. Russia is said to have mediated between the two Caucasus republics. An Armenian soldier had previously been killed.
After fierce fighting near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the warring Caucasian republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a ceasefire. After mediation by Russia, they had agreed to keep the weapons silent from 6:30 p.m. (local time; 3:30 p.m. CET), said the Armenian Ministry of Defense.
Soldier killed
An Armenian soldier was killed in the fighting. The Ministry of Defense in Yerevan also announced that seven soldiers and five conscripts had been captured by Azerbaijan. At least four Armenians were also wounded. The Azerbaijani army spoke of two injured in their own ranks.
The fighting had broken out the day before at at least two points in the eastern Armenian border area with Azerbaijan. According to the government of Azerbaijan, workers were shot at by the Armenian side while expanding border fortifications.
Most recently, both sides had blamed each other for the renewed fighting. This in turn sparked fears that the decades-long conflict over control of Nagorno-Karabakh could escalate again.
War for Nagorno-Karabakh a year ago
Most recently, both sides fought fierce fights over Nagorno-Karabakh for six weeks in autumn 2020; more than 6,500 people were killed. Azerbaijan had recaptured large parts of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in a brief war. The fighting ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that required Armenia to cede large areas.
The exact course of the border between the two ex-Soviet republics has been disputed between the two states since the conflict broke out in the late 1980s.