The United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United States urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to deescalate tensions amid the recent flareup of violence on the border between the two countries.
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about reports of renewed fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," U.N. chief Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Guterres urged both sides to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue and within existing formats, Dujarric said.
The OSCE also urged an "immediate cease-fire" Tuesday after the latest border flare-up between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"The escalation of hostilities at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan must cease immediately," it said in a statement.
Chairman-in-Office of the security bloc and Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau said in the statement that "the progress achieved so far by following the diplomatic path must not be squandered."
He noted that fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan jeopardized the process of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Secretary-General Helga Maria Schmid also urged the sides to stop hostiles, adding, "Drawing on decades of experience and expertise, the OSCE stands ready to help."
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said he was concerned that Russia could try to "stir the pot" in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as Washington urged the two countries to show restraint.
Washington has urged both sides in the conflict to cease hostilities after fighting broke out near the two countries' border.
"Whether Russia tries in some fashion to stir the pot, to create a distraction from Ukraine, is something we're always concerned about," Blinken told reporters at an event in Indiana, adding that Russia could also use its influence in the region to help "calm the waters."
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. remained deeply concerned about reports of attacks along the countries' border and urged the governments of both countries to reestablish direct lines of communications across diplomatic and military channels.
"We've actively engaged with both the Armenian and the Azerbaijani government to... see what we can do to end this violence," Kirby told reporters at the White House. "There can be no military solution to this conflict. We urge restraint from any further military hostilities," he urged.
Blinken held separate calls overnight with Armenia's prime minister and Azerbaijan's president to express Washington's concerns over fighting along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the State Department said. He urged Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to cease hostilities and said Washington would push for an immediate halt to the fighting, the department said.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, also urged the sides to deescalate. Michel met with Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last month in Brussels for talks on the normalization of ties, humanitarian issues and the prospect of a peace treaty over Karabakh.
EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar was set to travel to both countries to support efforts to curb the violence.
France will raise the clashes at the U.N. Security Council, the office of President Emmanuel Macron said.
Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of "large-scale provocations" in recent days, saying saboteurs planted mines and Armenian forces carried out "intensive” firing on Azerbaijani positions.
These actions by Armenian forces led to the confrontation, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, adding that there were casualties on both sides, including 50 Azerbaijani soldiers.
Border clashes have resumed on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border following the latter's provocations, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said early Tuesday.
The ministry noted that the Armenian military engaged in wide-scale provocations near the Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin regions. It continued by saying that sabotage groups of the Armenian military also laid mines between the strips of land and roads of the Azerbaijani military.
Armenia and Russia on Tuesday agreed on joint steps to stabilize the situation along Armenia's border with Azerbaijan after deadly overnight clashes, officials in Yerevan said.
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan and Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu "held a phone conversation to discuss Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia's sovereign territory," the Defense Ministry in Yerevan said, adding that the two "agreed to take necessary steps to stabilize the situation."
Armenia said Tuesday that at least 49 of its troops were killed in border clashes with Azerbaijan, the worst fighting between the arch foes since their 2020 war over the Karabakh region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decadeslong dispute over the region of Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan but was under the illegal occupation of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.
Moscow brokered a peace deal last November to end six weeks of fighting over the territory, during which more than 6,600 people were killed. The truce allowed Azerbaijan to reclaim control over large parts of Karabakh and surrounding areas that the Armenia-backed separatists controlled.
