Karabakh

Russian peacekeeping forces have initiated their withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan's reclaiming of the disputed region from Armenian separatists last year, as confirmed by the Kremlin.

The United States and European Union will continue to support Armenia and ethnic Armenians from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, leaders from both sides of the Atlantic pledged as they were meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday.

Türkiye opposed a trilateral meeting between Armenia, the United States, and the European Union scheduled for Friday in Brussels, saying Azerbaijan's absence would undermine the neutral approach to the region's complex problems and could fuel geopolitical conflict.

On one of the roads leading to Armenia, the destination of those leaving, a column of hundreds of cars was formed, the BBC reports.
Azerbaijan says residents will be safe, but Armenia's prime minister claims "ethnic cleansing" has begun.
Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has been run by ethnic Armenians for three decades, according to the BBC.

The death toll in the explosion at a fuel warehouse in Nagorno-Karabakh has reached 125 people, News.am reports, citing Armenia's Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan.

According to Avanesyan, 125 bodies were transported from the enclave populated by Armenians. At the moment, another 67 people have been admitted to the national burn center.

More than 200 people were injured after an explosion at a gas station in Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday, Reuters reported, citing local media and the Karabakh ombudsman.

The city of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation three years ago, will soon be opened to civilian settlement, as feverish works are also being undertaken for the restoration of the historical structures.

Protesting along Lachin corridor, the road that connects Armenia to Karabakh, as Baku says its mining sites in the region are being illegally exploited by Yerevan, Azerbaijani activists also claim that Armenia is carrying weapons to Khankendi through the corridor.

Azerbaijan fought a six-week war with Armenia for control of the majority-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

Turkey's Nobel laureate in chemistry, Aziz Sancar, has paid a visit to Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku and Shusha, a symbolic city located in the Karabakh, which was liberated last year after 28 years of Armenian occupation.

Fourteen people died on Nov. 30 in an Azerbaijani military helicopter crash which went down in the east of the Caucasus country during a training flight, officials said.

"Fourteen people died and two more were wounded as a result of a state border service helicopter crash," the ex-Soviet republic's frontier guard said in a statement.