The leader of Azerbaijan warned President Mikhail Gorbachev that his republic may be forced to take independent action if Soviet troops fail to stop attacks by Armenian extremists.

The death toll from four days of ethnic violence along the two republics' border rose to at least 12 Tuesday, including Soviet soldiers who died trying to keep the warring sides apart."The situation in the Caucasus remains volatile, with clashes involving firearms in some Armenian and Azerbaijani regions and the casualty toll rising fast," the official Tass news agency said.

Armenian deputies met with the commanders of illegal Armenian armies and persuaded them to impose a cease-fire in one of the hardest hit border zones, but the truce was quickly broken, the independent Interfax news service said.

Levon Ter-Petrosian, a nationalist leader elected as the effective leader of Armenia last month, told his Parliament that Azerbaijani militants had imposed a rail blockade of cargo going to Yerevan and had cut off a natural gas pipeline to the Armenian capital.

In an unusual address on republic-wide television, Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov criticized Gorbachev for failing to take decisive steps to stop the ethnic clashes and said his people may have to take matters into their hands.

View Comments

"The people of Azerbaijan have always linked their future with the Soviet federation," Interfax quoted Mutalibov as saying.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.