Azerbaijani Tanks Shell Positions In Nagorno-Karabagh

“The recent escalation of violence and the use of heavy weapons are unacceptable,” spokesman John Kirby said. Azerbaijani officials say one of their army officers has been killed as a result of a shoot-out along the contact line with Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabagh region.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a December 7 statement that Lieutenant Abdulla Mollayev had been severely injured in the clash and died later in a hospital.

It was not clear from the statement when the shoot-out took place.

A senior Russian diplomat warned Turkey against supporting Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict following statements by Ankara officials about their efforts to help Baku regain control over the disputed region.

In comments on the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday, Aleksandr Lukashevich, who currently serves as Russia’s ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) headquarters in Vienna, said that Turkey’s position runs counter to international efforts to broker a Karabagh settlement.  “Such a position is not supported in the OSCE,” said Lukashevich, reminding that Russia, along with the United States and France, carries the main burden of the mediatory mission as a Minsk Group co-chair country. He said that while Turkey is also a member of the Minsk Group, “the leading role [in the Karabagh peace process] is reserved for the three co-chairs.”

“Therefore, attempts to defend one of the parties to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh are absolutely destructive and cannot have any continuation,” Lukashevich emphasized.