The commander of one of Russia's nuclear submarines is shot dead

Russia has lost one of its top nuclear submarine commanders after his vehicle was fired upon by a heavy machine gun in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The victim, Captain First Rank Ivan Kovgan, 52, was in the area, sent as deputy commander of a peacekeeping contingent.

Azerbaijan has now regained control of its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a deadly two-day military offensive. Azerbaijan's decision to regain control of the area has raised concerns that a full-scale war could resume in the region.

The 2020 war, which pitted Azerbaijan (supported by Turkey) and Armenia (supported by Russia) caused the deaths of more than 6,700 people.

Kovgan was deputy commander of Russia's Arctic-based Northern Fleet submarine force and died alongside Colonel Tagir-Murod Karaev of Russia's Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces.

Four other Russian servicemen were also killed when their UAZ Patriot vehicle was riddled with bullets by the Azerbaijani army.. A source said: “His vehicle was attacked. All died”. Those responsible for shooting the submarine commander and other peacekeepers have been arrested and are expected to face criminal action.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev personally apologized to Putin for the murder of Kovgan and the other peacekeepers and promised financial compensation for their families.. The Defense Ministry in Baku called for “patience” during the investigation and expressed condolences to the Russian military and the soldiers' families.

Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of Armenian forces backed by the Armenian army in separatist fighting that ended in 1994.. Armenian forces also took control of substantial territory around the Azerbaijan region.

Azerbaijan regained control of surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. A Russian-brokered armistice ended the war and a contingent of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers was sent to the region to monitor it.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan accused Azerbaijan of a “well-planned and unprovoked military attack” launched to coincide with this week's annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

“Literally the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,” including Stepanakert and other cities and settlements, was attacked with intense and indiscriminate shelling, missiles, heavy artillery, banned cluster munitions, combat drones and other aircraft, he said.