Armenian drill raises tensions with Azerbaijan as soldier killed

Armenia, which is conducting what President Serzh Sargsyan described as war games based on a "strategic” scenario, said one of its soldiers was killed by Azeri sniper fire. The countries also accused each other of hundreds of attacks, including mortar fire, in the past 24 hours. One Azeri soldier was also killed by a sniper, the Yeni Musavat newspaper reported Wednesday.

The two sides have reported an increased use of heavy weapons in the past three days. A resumption of large-scale fighting in the region would threaten the energy industry of Azerbaijan, the ex-Soviet Union’s third-biggest oil producer, where BP Plc and its partners have invested more than $50 billion since 1994.

Reports about the use of heavy weapons could indicate a "dangerous escalation” James Warlick, a representative in charge of peace talks between the two nations at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said on Twitter.

Armenians took over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991, in which more than 30,000 people died and 1.2 million fled their homes. While major hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire in 1994, no peace agreement was signed.

 

(Bloomberg)