Azerbaijan says Russian framing of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ‘distorts reality

Azerbaijan has criticised comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, who again falsely claimed Armenia sought support from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Haykan Hajizada called Zakharova’s comments, made on Monday, a ‘distortion of reality’ and said ‘the practice of commenting on issues pertaining to Russia–Armenia relations by associating it with Azerbaijan should be ended’.

Hajizada was asked for clarification on Zakharova’s remarks on Tuesday.

The previous day, Zakharova had said, ‘although Armenia had called for the activation of the CSTO mechanism, the question was: against whom and in relation to what? Unfortunately or fortunately, Nagorno-Karabakh was recognised by Armenia neither as its own territory nor as an independent entity. Under such circumstances, it was impossible to invoke the CSTO’s collective security mechanism’.

Hajizada said Zakharova’s attempts to connect Armenia’s issues with the CSTO to the internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan ‘are not only entirely groundless but also contradict Russia’s own official position’ on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia froze its membership in the CSTO in 2024, citing the bloc’s failure to meet its security obligations during Azerbaijani military incursions into Armenia’s internationally recognised territory in 2021 and 2022. Azerbaijan continues to hold some of the territory.

At the time, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the CSTO’s refusal to come to its aid during the Azerbaijani attacks ‘could not have gone without consequences’.

Nonetheless, Russia has since repeatedly — and falsely — claimed Armenia’s request for CSTO support was related to fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

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