Former Soviet Troops Blamed in Ethnic Strife

The New York Times, 5 March 1992

MOSCOW, March 4 – Azerbaijan accused former Soviet troops today of joining with Armenian forces in killing Azerbaijanis trying to flee a besieged town in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

At a news conference, officials played a videotape showing dozens of corpses. An Azerbaijani presidential spokesman, Rasim Agayev, said at least 1,000 people died in the attack last week at Khojaly.

Mr. Agayev said armored personnel carriers and tanks of the 366^th Motorized Rifles, a force now under the control of the Commonwealth of Independent States that has been ordered to withdraw from the region, surrounded Khojaly on Feb. 25 and 26.

A spokesman for the commonwealth army, Col. Ivan Skrylnyk, denied Azerbaijan’s allegations.