Police detained nine participants in fights between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Moscow

After Friday's clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Moscow, the police detained nine people and have already asked the court to arrest three. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused opponents of trying to destabilize the situation in Russia, and the Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia called on his compatriots to stop the unrest. The conflicts began because of the aggravation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, potentially the largest since the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1994.

Moscow police officers detained nine participants in fights, RBC writes with reference to the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. The clashes that took place on Friday involved representatives of the Armenian and Azerbaijani diaspora. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already asked the court to arrest three participants in the fight in the Maryino region: all three are natives of Azerbaijan.

We are talking about several clashes in the Moscow districts of Lyublino and Maryino, in which immigrants from Armenia and Azerbaijan attacked each other. As a result of the fights, there are several injured and broken cars, in addition, pogroms took place in several national cafes and shops, writes Kommersant . In total, several dozen people have been detained due to fights in recent days.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has already stated that the Azerbaijanis staged attacks on Armenians in order to destabilize the situation in Russia, and called the attacks "an expression of the anti-Armenian rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leadership." Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bul-Bul ogly asked his compatriots to observe the laws and rules of Russia and take care of themselves "for our fair struggle, not breaking the laws, so as not to get into an unpleasant situation."

The security forces, according to Kommersant, call the clashes an "apricot war" after the Food City market, owned by the Kievskaya Ploshchad company, owned by Azerbaijan-born God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev. After the authorities held negotiations with the market owners, they let the cars with the goods go, but the sellers refused to sell the goods, since most of them are natives of Azerbaijan themselves.

Between Armenia and Azerbaijan in mid-July, border clashes began, which Kommersant called the largest since 2016 and potentially the largest since the indefinite truce in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1994. On July 12, Azerbaijan announced shelling from the Armenian side, and Armenia about an attempt by Azerbaijani servicemen to cross the border. Since then, clashes and shelling on the border have continued.