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| - Russia said Saturday it would provide "necessary" assistance to Yerevan in its conflict with Azerbaijan if fighting reached Armenian territory after its ally requested help. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan formally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin "urgent" consultations on security assistance in its conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in fierce fighting for more than a month over Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian separatists in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijani forces have recently been making gains against Armenian separatist fighters and world powers have so far been unable to persuade the warring sides to halt fire. The flare-up has left more than a thousand dead. Pasninyan requested assistance from Moscow after Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to agree a fresh ceasefire during talks in Geneva on Friday, and fighting continued overnight and Saturday. The announcement raised fears of Russia and Baku's ally Turkey of getting sucked into the decades-old conflict. Russia has a military base in Armenia's second-largest city of Gyumri and a defence treaty with Yerevan. Moscow's defence pact with Armenia does not however, extend to Nagorno-Karabakh, and Russia said Saturday help would only be provided if the fighting reaches Armenian territory. "Russia will render Yerevan all necessary assistance if clashes take place directly on the territory of Armenia," the foreign ministry said. At the same time, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said "concrete formats" of assistance to Armenia would be discussed. Russia also called on the warring sides to immediately cease fire and begin "substantive" talks. Pashinyan in his letter to Putin said that hostilities were getting closer to Armenia's borders and reiterated that Turkey was backing Baku. "The prime minister of Armenia has asked the Russian president to begin urgent consultations with the aim of determining the kind and amount of aid which the Russian Federation can provide Armenia to ensure its security," the ministry said. Pashinyan requested Moscow's help by invoking a 1997 treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. Carey Cavanaugh, a former US ambassador and co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group, said Putin was aware that an expanded military engagement in the conflict was not in Moscow's interest. "It is impossible to calculate the risk, but injection of either Russian or Turkish armed forces at this point would mark a significant escalation of the conflict," Cavanaugh, a professor of diplomacy at the University of Kentucky, told AFP. At the same time, he said, "Russia could move some forces out of barracks in Gyumri to enhance border protection (they already cooperate on that) or to assist with any outflow of displaced civilian population fleeing from the fighting." On Friday, mediators from France, Russia and the US said in Geneva that the warring sides had committed to "not deliberately target civilian populations or non-military objects in accordance with international humanitarian law". But the defence ministry of the Karabakh separatist leadership on Saturday accused Azerbaijan of violating the Geneva agreements and targeting the main city Stepanakert and the strategically important town of Shusha. The Karabakh emergencies service said the towns of Martuni and Martakert had come under fire. The defence ministry said there were "wounded among civilians" in Shusha. Baku denied targeting Stepanakert. Armenia's rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan also accused Azerbaijan of using white phosphorus munitions, "setting fire to the forests which are next to civilian communities." Azerbaijan denied the claim. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a bitter conflict over Karabakh since Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the mountainous province in a 1990s war that left 30,000 people dead. The current clashes broke out on September 27 and fighting has persisted despite international attempts to secure a ceasefire. The warring sides have three times agreed to ceasefires during recent talks mediated by Russia, France and the United States but the truces have all fallen apart. More than 1,200 people from both sides have been reported dead but the death toll is believed to be substantially higher. On Saturday, Britain announced a £1 million initiative to provide food and medicine to victims of the conflict. bur-as/bmm
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