The Battle of Armenia for control of the disputed territories currently controlled by Azerbaijan was subjected to further strikes, as Azerbaijani forces captured Nagorno Karabakh II – the largest city – and now its largest city lies in Baku’s landmarks
This comes as Russia said on Monday that one of its military helicopters was shot down in Armenia, near the border with Azerbaijan, killing two soldiers
On Sunday, Azerbaijan said it had captured Shusha, known by the Armenians as Shushi, located on top of a mountain overlooking Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Military analysts said that the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh denied on Sunday losing control of Shusha, which is bordered by steep cliffs and could be the starting point for an Azerbaijani attack on Stepanakert
But Fahram Bogossian, spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh leader Araik Harutyunyan, acknowledged the loss of the mountain-top city on his official Facebook page.
“There follows a series of calamities and the city of Shushi is not under our control. We must keep it together because the enemy is close to Stepanakert,” wrote Mr. Boghossian
Mr. Boghossian’s statement on Facebook came one day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed that his country’s soldiers had taken Shushi
Armenia has issued counterclaims, which deny the size of Azerbaijan’s gains, and claim that there is still fighting in Shushi.
The official Russian news agency TASS, citing officials of the Russian Defense Ministry, said that a Mi-24 helicopter was shot down from a MANPADS
The accident occurred near the border with the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan, 70 kilometers from the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, which is located in the territory of Azerbaijan but has been under Armenian control since 1994
Russia has a defense agreement with Armenia, and it has a large military base there, about 150 kilometers from where the helicopter was shot down
The ministry said that the helicopter was accompanying a military convoy at noon on Monday (local time), but it did not clarify the purpose of the convoy
Military analysts said that direct Russian military involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unlikely unless Armenia itself is deliberately attacked, and that Turkey may not intensify its participation if Azerbaijan continues to advance.
Shushi or Shusha is located about 15 kilometers south of Stepanakert and is of cultural importance to both sides.
The loss of the city is a major blow to the Armenians in their battle for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized separatist region as part of Azerbaijan but inhabited and controlled by ethnic Armenians
Nagorno-Karabakh rarely gets any news coverage, but it has the potential to turn the Southern Caucasus into a rearview war zone that traces the story of the disputed region
Encouraged by Turkish support, Azerbaijan said it had regained much of the land in and around Nagorno Karabakh that it lost in the war that killed an estimated 30,000 people in the 1990s
Three ceasefire agreements have failed in the past six weeks, but Azerbaijan’s superior weapons and battlefield gains have diminished its incentive to pursue a lasting peace agreement
The state of its economy, affected by the coronavirus pandemic, may also be a limiting factor
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Azerbaijan, Armenia, Artsakh Republic, Ilham Aliyev, Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh War
World News – African Union – Russian helicopter shot down in Armenian lands, while Azerbaijan intensifies its military offensive
