France has said it will ask the UN Security Council to debate the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan after fresh border clashes between the historic rivals left dozens dead.
"France will take the situation before the Security Council of the United Nations, of which it currently holds the presidency," President Emmanuel Macron's office said following a call between Macron and his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan.
Macron called for both a ceasefire and "strict respect" for Armenia's territorial integrity, the presidency said.
Macron was available for talks with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, as well as any discussions about resolving issues between both sides "by negotiation only", it added.
Russia steps in
Armenia said Tuesday that nearly 50 of its soldiers had been killed in the worst clashes with Azerbaijan since their war two years ago, but Russia said it had convinced the historic rivals to agree to a rapid ceasefire.
After several hours of fierce border fighting overnight, Armenia appealed to world leaders for help, saying Azerbaijani forces were trying to advance on its territory.
The fighting was the worst since the end of a 2020 war between the ex-Soviet republics over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region that left more than 6,500 killed on both sides.
It came with Yerevan's closest ally Moscow, which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the war, distracted by its six-month invasion of Ukraine.
Russia said it had succeeded in bringing the clashes to a halt, with the foreign ministry in Moscow saying a ceasefire had been agreed from 9:00 am Moscow time.
Armenia's defence ministry said later that clashes had subsided but that the situation on the border "remains extremely tense".
The ministry said the clashes started early Tuesday, with Armenian territory coming under fire from artillery, mortars and drones in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk.
'Limited and targeted steps'
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said it had also suffered casualties but did not specify the number killed.
Azerbaijan accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin and said its armed forces were responding with "limited and targeted steps, neutralising Armenian firing positions".
Baku's long-standing political and military sponsor Turkey blamed Armenia and urged Yerevan instead to "focus on peace negotiations".
Gas complications
France's position on the conflict is complicated as it is home to a large Armenian diaspora.
Paris is also part of a wider accord between the EU and Azerbaijan, signed on 19 July, for closer energy cooperation aimed at "doubling the capacity" of the Southern Gas Corridor that starts in Azerbaijan, then snakes through Georgia and Turkey – but avoiding Armenia – into Greece and the rest of the EU.
The deal provides for the delivery of "at least 20 billion cubic metres to the EU annually by 2027".
Sixty French lawmakers wrote an open letter in daily newspaper Le Monde, arguing that the deal would provide gas revenues for Azerbaijan which, they say, is "desperately seeking to finance arms being used to exterminate Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and in the Republic of Armenia."
(with wires)
