Azerbaijan, Armenia report 99 troops killed in border clash

Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops on Sept. 13. 

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a "large-scale provocation" by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal.

Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties "to refrain from further escalation and show restraint."

Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan "to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue" and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and...