Putin calls for calm amid deadliest Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes since 2020

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses parliament following an escalation in hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region along the border of Armenia with Azerbaijan, in Yerevan, Armenia, September 13, 2022. Tigran Mehrabyan/PAN Photo via REUTERS

TBILISI (Reuters) -At least 49 Armenian soldiers and 50 Azeri military personnel were killed on Tuesday in the deadliest fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia since a 2020 war, each side said, spurring Russian President Vladimir Putin to appeal for calm.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighbouring former Soviet republics, blamed each other for the renewed fighting which began overnight at several points along their border, raising fears of another major armed conflict in the area of the old Soviet Union while Russia's military is tied up in Ukraine.