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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday he was concerned that Russia could try to “stir the pot” in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, despite Putin’s public call for calm.

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.”

At least 49 Armenian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Azeris were killed early Tuesday in the deadliest fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia since a 2020 war, prompting Putin to call for peace in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan each blamed the other for the renewed fighting which began overnight at several points along their border, raising fears of another major conflict in the former Soviet Union while Russia’s military is tied up in Ukraine.

Russia has peacekeeping troops in the Azeri-Armenian conflict zone as guarantors of an agreement that ended a six-week war over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh two years ago.

“It is difficult to overestimate the role of the Russian Federation, the role of Putin personally,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“The president is naturally is making every effort to help de-escalate tensions at the border.”

Border fighting

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of attacking Armenian towns because it did not want to negotiate over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave which is inside Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.

He said the intensity of hostilities had decreased but attacks from Azerbaijan, which is politically and culturally linked to Turkey, continued.

Azerbaijan, which accused Armenia of carrying out intelligence activity along the border and moving weapons, said its military positions came under attack by Armenia. It said it sustained losses but did not disclose the number of casualties.

Azerbaijani media reported that a ceasefire agreement had been broken almost immediately after being enforced early on Tuesday.

Both Russia and the United States, at loggerheads over the Ukraine war, called on Baku and Yerevan to observe restraint.

“As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.”

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan “should be resolved exclusively through political and diplomatic means”.

The defense ministers of Armenia and Russia spoke on Tuesday morning and agreed to take steps to stabilise the situation on the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks with his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov and called for Armenia to “cease its provocations”.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, also urged the sides to de-escalate. Michel met with Pashinyan and Azerbaijaini President Ilham Aliyev last month in Brussels for talks on the normalisation of ties between the countries, humanitarian issues and the prospect of a peace treaty over Nagorno-Karabakh.

EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar was set to travel to both countries to support efforts to curb the violence.

Copyright 2022 Thomson/Reuters (edited for FISM News by Michael Cardinal)