Abstract
In September 2020, the worst hostilities since the war in 1988 -1994 broke out in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of South Caucasus. The explosion of the Armenian-Azerbaijan full-scale conflict in Autumn 2020 indicated the failure in achieving a deal between them over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh since the brokered ceasefire in 1994.
Although there were many local fire exchanges and the escalation of hostilities in 2016, the open full-scale war did not break out until Autumn 2020. This paper examines the reasons why it had happened in these particular circumstances, it also analyses the Armenian and Azerbaijanis reasons leading to the escalation.
It assumes that Covid-19 pandemic was one of the most significant factors which boosted this escalation. Due to Covid-19 pandemic the worlds' focus was divided into many other crises, such as elections in Belarus, elections in the USA, weaking of Russia (also connected with Covid).
Azerbaijan decided to take an advantage of this situation and attacked unprepared Armenian forces. This time, both sides of the conflict expressed intentions to fight until the final resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh status.
The paper also focuses on the factors which led the involved "players" to this decision.