Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian authorities said the apparent accident occurred along the Stepanakert-Askeran highway on Friday morning.
They said the 30-year-old driver of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, who was identified only by his initials, I. Y., drove a full-size SUV, Haval H9, that collided with a compact Lada sedan VAZ-2107.
The Lada’s driver, who was identified by the local police as a 26-year-old resident of the village of Sarushen in Nagorno-Karabakh’s Askeran district, reportedly suffered bone fractures and bruising of the right lung and was taken to hospital, while his four passengers – all women from the same district aged from 50 to 56 – were killed on the spot.
No information about the condition of the Haval H9 driver was made available immediately.
Local investigators are working on the scene, Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities said.
Russia deploys nearly 2,000 peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh after brokering a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in November 2020 to end a deadly six-week war over the region.