Armenia & Azerbaijan Agree On Cease-Fire

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on a cease-fire from 20:00 local time, Armenia's top security official told a local TV channel.

• "Thanks to the involvement of the international community, it was possible to reach an agreement on a truce from 20:00 on September 14th. We hope that Azerbaijan will comply with this agreement," said Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan.
• The two Caucasian republics have clashed over the past couple of days as their decades-old conflict over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh resurfaced. Both blamed the escalation on the other, as Armenia said over 100 of its soldiers have been killed this week and Azerbaijan declared 50 fatalities among its troops.
• Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan said Yerevan asked its allies from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for assistance in defending its territorial integrity. Moscow also maintains a 2,000-troop contingent in the disputed region to enforce a truce it brokered two years ago. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan enjoys the military and diplomatic support from Turkey. Any serious escalation would risk drawing the two regional powers into the conflict.
• Tensions between Baku and Yerevan are also on the radar of energy market watchers, owing to Azerbaijan's status as a major oil and gas producers. Renewed clashes complicate the EU's efforts to diversify its energy suppliers, as the bloc adjusts to living with sanctions on Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Just two months ago, Brussels struck a deal with Baku for the delivery of 20bn cubic metres of gas by 2027.