Saturday,
Russia Tells Azerbaijan To Withdraw Troops From Karabakh Village
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A Russian peacekeeper patrols near a dog at a checkpoint
outside Askeran, November 19, 2020
Russia has accused Azerbaijan of violating a Russian-brokered ceasefire that
stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and called for the withdrawal of
Azerbaijani forces from an area in eastern Karabakh occupied by them this week.
The Azerbaijani army on Thursday reportedly captured Parukh, a village in
Karabakh’s Askeran district, before advancing towards strategic hills to the
west of it controlled by Karabakh Armenian forces. Fighting in that area
continued for the second consecutive day on Saturday despite the presence of
Russian peacekeeping troops.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that
Azerbaijani army units “entered the zone of responsibility of the Russian
peacekeeping contingent” in breach of the 2020 truce accord. It also confirmed
that they used Turkish-made combat drones to strike Karabakh Armenian positions
near Parukh.
“At present, the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is taking
measures to resolve the situation and return the troops to their original
position,” added the statement. “A call for the withdrawal of the troops was
sent to the Azerbaijani side.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said, meanwhile, that it is “extremely concerned”
about the rising tensions in Karabakh. It urged the warring sides to “show
restraint” and avoid ceasefire violations.
Earlier on Saturday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry urged Moscow to “issue a
clear demand” for the Azerbaijani withdrawal. It said Yerevan also expects the
Russian peacekeepers to take other “concrete, visible steps to resolve the
situation.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
discussed the situation in Karabakh in phone calls on Thursday and Friday.
The U.S. State Department on Friday expressed serious concern over the
Azerbaijani troop movements, calling them “irresponsible and unnecessarily
provocative.” Baku rejected the criticism.
Both conflicting sides reported fresh fighting near Parukh on Saturday.
Karabakh’s Defense Army said its troops thwarted Azerbaijani attempts to gain
more ground outside the village.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry claimed, for its part, that Armenian forces tried
to launch a sabotage attack on one of its frontline positions but were pushed
back. The Karabakh army denied that.
Fighting Continues In Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh - A view of the village of Khnapat in the Askeran district,
March 11, 2022.
Fighting continued in Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday, with military authorities in
Stepanakert accusing Azerbaijani forces of trying to push deeper into Karabakh’s
eastern Askeran district.
The Karabakh Armenian army said that its troops are “taking appropriate measures
to stop the enemy’s advance.” It said it is also working with the Russian
peacekeeping contingent stationed in the Armenian-populated territory to try to
stop the hostilities.
The Karabakh state minister, Artak Beglarian, spoke later in the afternoon of an
“unsuccessful” Azerbaijani attack on one of the Karabakh Armenian positions in
the area.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry claimed, meanwhile, that Armenian forces tried to
launch a sabotage attack on one of its frontline positions but were pushed back.
Karabakh’s Defense Army was quick to dismiss the claim as a “complete lie”
designed to cover up the Azerbaijani truce violations.
Tensions along the Karabakh “line of contact” rose dramatically on Thursday
after Azerbaijani forces reportedly captured a village in Askeran and tried to
advance to strategic hills to the west of it. Three Karabakh Armenian soldiers
were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in the area on Friday.
The U.S. State Department expressed serious concern over the Azerbaijani troop
movements, calling them “irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative.” The
French Foreign Ministry similarly urged Baku to withdraw its troops to the
positions occupied by them before Thursday.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- An Armenian police officer patrols as the truck of Russian
peacekeeping forces moves past him at their checkpoint outside Askeran, November
20, 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
discussed the situation in Karabakh in a phone call late on Friday. Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the following morning that the two leaders also
spoke by phone on Thursday. He did not comment on Russia’s possible responses to
the escalation.
Armenian officials have said that they expect the 2,000 or so Russian
peacekeepers to do more to ensure Baku’s compliance with the ceasefire regime
and withdrawal from the village of Parukh.
According to Beglarian, the Russian peacekeepers are maintaining their presence
in Parukh as well as the nearby village of Khramort. They have made
“considerable efforts” to prevent further ceasefire violations, said the
Karabakh official.
Earlier on Saturday, Karabakh’s leadership announced that it has appealed to
Putin to deploy more Russian soldiers in Karabakh. It said that the existing
peacekeeping contingent is too small to carry out its mission in the current
circumstances.
The Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Karabakh under the terms of a
Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war
in November 2020.
Pashinian, Putin Agree ‘To Make Efforts’ To Resolve Crisis In Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, on November 26, 2021.
The leaders of Armenia and Russia reportedly agreed “to make efforts to resolve
the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh” as they had a phone call late on Friday.
The conversation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President
Vladimir Putin was held after reports of fresh fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh
where at least three ethnic Armenian soldiers were killed and more than a dozen
were wounded as Azerbaijani forces took control of a village and nearby heights
supposed to be protected by Russian peacekeepers.
The Armenian prime minister’s press office said that during the phone call the
two leaders discussed “the situation created after the invasion by Azerbaijani
units into the zone of responsibility of the peacekeeping contingent of the
Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh.” It said that Pashinian assessed the
situation as tense.
“Prime Minister Pashinian raised the need to investigate the actions of Russian
peacekeepers in the given situation and stressed that it is necessary that
Russian peacekeepers demand that Azerbaijani armed forces withdraw to their
initial positions,” the transcript of the phone call released by the Armenian
side said.
“The leaders of the two countries agreed to make efforts to resolve the crisis
situation in Nagorno-Karabakh,” it added.
About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a
Moscow-brokered ceasefire that put an end to a six-week war between Armenians
and Azerbaijan in November 2020.
Meanwhile, France, which along with Russia and the United States co-chairs the
OSCE Minsk Group that spearheads international mediation efforts on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has expressed its concern over the advancement of the
Azerbaijani army in the region and called for its withdrawal to the positions
determined by the 2020 truce.
“France regrets the armed incidents in the area of Parukh and Khramort, and
calls on the Azerbaijani units to return to the positions they held on the day
of the declaration of a ceasefire on November 9, 2020,” the French Foreign
Ministry said in a statement released late on Friday.
During a U.S. State Department briefing on March 25, principal deputy
spokesperson Jalina Porter said that “the United States is deeply concerned
about Azerbaijan troop movements.”
“Troop movements and other escalatory measures are irresponsible and
unnecessarily provocative,” she said, according to the transcript of the
briefing published by the State Department’s official website.
Porter added that the United States, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
“remains deeply committed to working with the sides to achieve a long-term
political settlement of the conflict.”
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has denied reports about fighting in
Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Azerbaijani media, official Baku says that
“specifications of positions and locations are taking place on the ground
without any use of force.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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