The talks broke down earlier this year over Iran’s request for a guarantee that a future U.S. Officials from both sides have played down the potential for progress at the meetings in Vienna, with each highlighting the need for compromise. President Donald Trump upended, which had offered economic relief in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. The discussions are focused on reviving the 2015 agreement that former U.S. officials are expected to resume nuclear talks in Vienna today. That could have consequences in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Brussels becoming dependent on Baku for some of its resources, as Gabriel Gavin wrote in Foreign Policy in May. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear that any further progress in the talks between Yerevan and Ankara is contingent on Armenia’s negotiations with Azerbaijan.Īzerbaijan has benefited from Russia’s war in Ukraine in another way: The EU agreed to double its natural gas imports from the country by 2027 as it seeks to wean itself off Russian energy supplies. Armenia and Turkey’s own border has been closed since the 1990s conflict.
In recent weeks, Armenia had looked toward normalizing ties with Turkey-perhaps in an effort to seek stability in the South Caucasus. Russia’s military is of course preoccupied with its own war in Ukraine, where it appears to be preparing for a battle in the south this likely limits Moscow’s appetite for further involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh in the event of renewed conflict. The countries’ leaders met for talks in Brussels this spring mediated by the EU Council president, but a formal framework for peace negotiations remains out of reach so far. There have been signs of building tensions in recent months, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of violating the cease-fire in March. The European Union has called for an immediate end to hostilities. The Russian defense ministry said Azerbaijani forces had violated the cease-fire Russia has historically supported Armenia, although it did not intervene on its behalf in 2020.
The latest clashes occurred in the Lachin corridor, which the Russian forces oversee.Īrmenia and Azerbaijan traded blame on Wednesday, each saying that the other side had launched an attack in areas controlled by the Russian peacekeepers. As part of a cease-fire agreement brokered in November 2020 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, around 2,000 Russian peacekeeping forces remain in the region. In 2020, Azerbaijan took over part of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as areas it lost during a previous conflict in the 1990s, with Turkish military support. Yerevan saw large protests in May calling for the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in part over his handling of the conflict. They have not reached a formal peace agreement in the wake of their most recent 44-day war, which ended in Azerbaijan’s favor. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought over the region for decades. Nagorno-Karabakh, which is populated mostly by Armenians, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
At least three soldiers died in the latest fighting. Clashes flared between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, raising concerns about spiraling violence nearly two years after a war in the region.