A new ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh was in jeopardy on Monday with Azerbaijan and Armenian forces.
Among accusations on both sides, Azerbaijan said it had “neutralised” a missile fired by Armenian forces at an oil pipeline in Azerbaijan on Sunday, several hours after the ceasefire went into force. Armenia denied firing it.
The ceasefire was agreed on Saturday after an earlier deal brokered by Russia failed to halt the deadliest clashes in the South Caucasus since the 1990s.
The failure to stop the fighting has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis, and put new strains on ties between Turkey, which strongly backs Azerbaijan, and its NATO allies which want the conflict to end.
Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said Azeri forces were shelling their positions in northern and southern areas of the line of contact that divides them.
They said Azeri forces had shelled civilian settlements including the town of Martuni and four villages – charges that were denied by Azerbaijan. They reported one civilian killed and one wounded in Martuni.
The Azeri prosecutor general’s office said Armenia had targeted a pipeline in the Khizi district of Azerbaijan, more than 300 km (186 miles) from the conflict zone, on Sunday afternoon.
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The pipeline, which carries oil to Novorossiisk in Russia, was not damaged but some missile fragments fell about 250 metres (820 feet) away, it said.
Dismissing the report, Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said: “It’s a total lie.”
In a fresh appeal for peace on Monday, Lavrov said it was vital to stop the angry rhetoric around the conflict, a step, he said, that “does not require any great effort”.
Turkey says their mediation has failed, and Azerbaijan wants a role for Ankara in peacemaking. Baku seeks an Armenian withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, but Armenia rules this out and accuses Azerbaijan of making a land grab.