Category: 2023

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Russia will put Armenia’s decision to host a joint military exercise with the United States rather than with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) under a microscope, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Against the backdrop of Armenia’s reluctance to hold drills with the CSTO and its latest plan to host a joint exercise with the United States, for us, perhaps, these are decisions that will require our thorough analysis in order to understand why Armenia has decided to do this and what its goals are here," Peskov said.

In any case, Moscow will establish a partnership dialogue with Armenia to "try and make sense of it," he added.

Earlier, the Armenian Defense Ministry announced that the South Caucasus country will host a joint military exercise, Eagle Partner 2023, with the United States on September 11-20.

YEREVAN, September 11. /TASS/. Three Armenian public associations, "The Shield of the Homeland," "Reserve Officers" and "National Security Service Reserve Officers," issued a demand for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to approve the aid package, proposed by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and to deploy CSTO peacekeeping contingents along the border with Azerbaijan.

"Considering the mortal threats standing before Armenia and Artsakh [the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh – TASS], the high probability of new wide-scale military operations or war, we once again demand that Nikol Pashinyan immediately signs the aid package, proposed to Armenia by the CSTO, and reacts positively to the CSTO’s proposal on deployment of peacekeeping forces along the entire contact line between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and prepares to the two previously rejected CSTO military exercises in Armenia," the statement reads.

The officer community also called on people "that previously occupied high political or military offices in the Republic of Armenia, reserve generals and officers of security agencies" to "display a hard public position in order to make the CSTO aid a direct reality."

"We call on the current leaders, generals and officers of security agencies to display their will and to prevent, within their authority, a development of events, extremely dangerous for Armenia, which will lead to new territorial and human losses, to war," the statement says.

Previously, Russia’s representatives have stated repeatedly that the CSTO is ready to send a mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, but Armenian authorities rejected this offer, pointing that the "organization did not condemn Azerbaijan’s military aggression against Armenia."

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Negotiations between participants in a trilateral working group to unblock transportation links in the South Caucasus are ongoing, but the latest escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan has had a negative effect on this activity, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum currently underway in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.

"Certainly, any escalation of tensions always negatively affects our work, by stranding and delaying us; and time elapses before we can return and sit down to the negotiating table again," he said, responding to a relevant question. "The negotiations are ongoing," he assured reporters.

According to Overchuk, deputy premiers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet again to discuss unblocking transport communication in the region when conditions are ripe for such talks.

The senior Russian official said earlier, following the latest meeting of the working group, that substantial progress had been made in agreeing on how to unblock transport links between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. On January 11, 2021, the three leaders agreed to establish a working group at the level of deputy prime ministers that was charged with focusing on efforts to restore transport and economic ties in the region.

The Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) is taking place in Vladivostok on September 10-13. The slogan for this year’s forum is: On the Path to Partnership, Peace and Prosperity. The Roscongress Foundation is the event organizer. TASS is the EEF’s general information partner.

YEREVAN, September 11. /TASS/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exchanged views on the situation in the South Caucasus and agreed to continue diplomatic efforts to reach lasting peace in the region, the press service of the Armenian government said on Monday after their phone call.

"The sides discussed Armenian-Turkish relations and regional matters. The two countries’ leaders stressed that lasting peace and stability in the region will encourage the development and prosperity of all the countries in the region. The sides noted that they will continue diplomatic efforts on this track," it said.

The office of the Turkish leader also informed about this phone call. "On September 11, President Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The sides discussed Turkish-Armenian relations and regional problems. They also stressed that lasting peace and stability in the region will contribute to the development and well-being of all the countries in the region and pledged to continue diplomatic efforts toward this," it said.

Erdogan announced his plans to speak with Pashinyan on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in India on Sunday. On the same day, he spoke with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The Turkish leader noted that "the steps that are being taken in Nagorno-Karabakh are wrong and cannot be put up with." In his words, "it is absolutely impossible to recognize" the results of the elections in this region.

On Saturday, the parliament of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh elected Samvel Shakhtamanyan as the region’s new president. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry accused Armenia of seeking to aggravate the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union’s break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted in September 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region to ensure the operation of humanitarian corridors. Later, the three leaders adopted several more joint statements on the situation in the region.

At a Council of Europe summit on May 17, 2023, Pashinyan said that Yerevan recognizes Azerbaijan’s sovereignty in the borders incorporating Nagorno-Karabakh.