Nagorno-Karabakh truce under severe strain as both sides allege violations

A Russian-brokered humanitarian cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh was under severe strain on Sunday, a day after it was agreed, with Azerbaijan and Armenia accusing each other of serious violations and crimes against civilians.

The cease-fire, clinched after marathon talks in Moscow advocated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, was meant to halt fighting to allow ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri forces to swap prisoners and war dead.

The Moscow talks were the first diplomatic contact between the two since fighting over the mountainous enclave erupted on September 27, killing hundreds of people.

The enclave is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.

The truce officially entered into force at noon on Saturday but both sides almost immediately accused each other of violations.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of heavily shelling a residential area in Ganja, its second largest city, in the early hours of the morning, and of hitting an apartment building.

The Azeri Prosecutor General’s Office said nine people had been killed and 34 wounded in the attack.

The Armenian defence ministry called the allegations “an absolute lie” and accused Azerbaijan of continuing to shell populated areas inside Karabakh, including Stepanakert, the region’s biggest city.

The Karabakh authorities said 429 servicemen had been killed since fighting erupted last month.

Arayik Haratyunyan, the leader of ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, described the situation as relatively calm on Sunday, but said he did not know how long it would last and that the frontline remained tense.

He accused Azeri forces of trying to unsuccessfully take control of the town of Hadrut, and said the process of the two sides exchanging prisoners should had started on Sunday, but that it was unclear if and when that would happen.

Renewed fighting in the decades-old conflict has raised fears of a wider war drawing in Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has a defence pact with Armenia.