INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia on Wednesday accused Azerbaijan of breaking a ceasefire over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh after three soldiers died in
clashes with what Baku called "illegal Armenian armed groups."Six weeks of fighting over the region in the autumn of 2020 claimed more than
6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.The Russian defense ministry issued a statement saying Azerbaijan's armed
forces violated the ceasefire and that it was "taking measures to stabilize the situation" with Armenian and Azerbaijani
representatives.Azerbaijan's defense ministry had earlier said Karabakh troops killed one of its soldiers in an attack in the Lachin
district, blaming Armenia for the "bloody incident."The Azerbaijani army later said it had captured several strategic heights in the region
in a retaliatory operation against the "terrorist actions of illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan."The army of the
breakaway statelet accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire, killing two soldiers and wounding another 14.Arch enemies Armenia and
swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce, but tensions
persist despite a ceasefire agreement.
