CSTO mission to arrive at Azeri-Armenian border Thursday

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Sep 2022 16:52
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Baku has already offered to return the remains of 100 Armenian servicemen.

Azerbaijan offers to hand over remains of Armenian soldiers.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Wednesday that the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) mission is expected to arrive this Thursday at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the site of recent violent clashes which saw the loss of tens of troops on both sides.

"Our request was duly discussed at a meeting of the CSTO Council, a decision was made to send a mission, and we hope that the mission will arrive tomorrow," Mirzoyan said, despite the recent invocation of article 4 of the CSTO charter to evict Azeri troops from Armenia's territory and restore the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia after Blinken had promised to provide US assistance to Armenia.

The mission headed by the Secretary-General is sent to Armenia to estimate the situation due to reescalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has proposed to return the bodies of 100 Armenian servicemen who died in the recent clashes after a failed attempt of keeping a ceasefire intact.

"Azerbaijan calls for a ceasefire and is ready to unilaterally hand over the bodies of 100 Armenian servicemen to Armenia," Azerbaijan's state commission on prisoners of war said in a statement.

On his part, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday that 105 Armenians have been killed during the ongoing clashes on the border with Azerbaijan.

"At the moment, the corrected death toll is 105 people," Pashinyan told lawmakers.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had initially agreed to implement a ceasefire Monday at 05:00 GMT.

But on Tuesday, Azerbaijani soldiers advanced along various areas of the border, renewing violent clashes.

Earlier, both sides exchanged blame, with Yerevan accusing the Azerbaijani military of shelling the territory of Armenia late on Monday using artillery and drones. On its part, Baku said the Armenian military fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani troops on the border, resulting in a clash. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported losses in its ranks, without specifying them.