Smoke rises as Azerbaijan’s forces shell targets during the fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh near the city of Terter, Azerbaijan
YEREVAN/BAKU/GENEVA, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians fought with artillery and heavy guns as the United States, France and Russia stepped up efforts to secure a ceasefire and avert a wider war in the South Caucasus.
The Kremlin said late on Thursday the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia had been invited to take part in talks in Moscow on Friday, adding that the invitation followed calls with the two countries’ leaders.
“Following a series of telephone discussions with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of Russia calls for a halt to military actions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russia’s foreign ministry said earlier on Thursday that it was in talks with Azerbaijan and Armenia to organise a possible meeting in Moscow.
There was no immediate reaction from Azerbaijan and Yerevan and officials in both countries were not available for comment.
The announcement marks the first result in international efforts to try to halt fighting which has killed at least 400 people since it broke out on Sept. 27.
Azerbaijan said the city of Ganja had come under fire, deep inside its territory. Ethnic Armenians who control the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan said Stepanakert, its main city, and Shusha had been shelled by Azeri forces.
In a sign of growing alarm in the region, the head of a six-country military alliance led by Russia and including Armenia warned that the group could intervene if Armenian sovereignty were threatened.
The continued fighting and rising tension underlined the difficulties facing US, Russian and French officials meeting in Geneva to try to halt fighting. — NNN-AGENCIES