Monday,
Putin Praises Russian Peacekeepers In Karabakh
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Military vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping force move on
the road outside Lachin, November 29, 2020
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin praised on Monday Russian peacekeeping forces
deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that they are successfully ensuring the
implementation of a Moscow-brokered agreement that stopped the
Armenian-Azerbaijani war on November 10.
“On November 10 the Russian peacekeepers embarked on a very difficult mission in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Their presence became a guarantee of compliance with the
agreements on cessation of hostilities,” Putin said at a meeting with top
Russian Defense Ministry officials.
Putin pointed out that the 2,000 Russian troops are also ensuring the safe
return of refugees to Nagorno-Karabakh, helping to rebuild the region’s public
infrastructures, demining civilian areas and protecting religious monuments.
“They are risking their lives to bring peace back to that land,” he added,
according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also mentioned the peacekeeping operation
in his remarks at the meeting chaired by Putin. “Civilians are returning to
their places of residence and rebuilding their homes in completely safe
conditions,” Shoigu said.
The peacekeepers set up 23 observation posts in and around Karabakh shortly
after Putin brokered the Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement following six
weeks of heavy fighting in the conflict zone. They are also deployed along the
so-called Lachin corridor connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
The peacekeeping contingent suffered its first casualty last week when a Russian
officer was killed in an explosion during a demining operation near the
Azerbaijani-controlled Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha).
In Shoigu’s words, the Russian troops have already defused more than 6,000
landmines and pieces of explosive ordnance. They are also helping the warring
sides to exchange prisoners and recover the bodies of soldiers killed in action.
Armenian Mayor Arrested Over Anti-Pashinian Protest
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Goris Mayor Arush Arushanian.
The mayor of the southeastern Armenian town of Goris was arrested early on
Monday just hours after urging local residents to block a highway and not allow
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to visit their region bordering Azerbaijan.
The 29-year-old mayor, Arush Arushanian, was among the elected heads of more
than a dozen communities in Syunik province who demanded Pashinian’s resignation
earlier this month. They held him responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat in
the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh and accused him of putting Syunik’s security
at grave risk with Armenian troop withdrawals completed over the weekend.
Pashinian planned to visit the region on Monday in a bid to reassure its
population.
Arushanian urged Goris residents late on Sunday to join a convoy of vehicles
which he said will block the main regional highway to stop Pashinian from
entering Syunik.
“This is not a political orientation or a partisan initiative,” he wrote on
Facebook. “This is a fight for the dignity, security and physical existence of
the people of Syunik,” he wrote on Facebook.
Arushanian was arrested and taken to Yerevan a few hours later. Armenia’s
Investigative Committee said on Monday afternoon that he is suspected of
organizing an illegal gathering.
Goris’s Deputy Mayor Irina Yolian and other Arushanian supporters condemned the
arrest as politically motivated. Several dozen opposition activists gathered
outside the Investigative Committee headquarters in Yerevan to demand the
mayor’s release.
Arushanian’s lawyer, Armen Melkonian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier in
the day that he is being illegally denied access to his client.
Despite Arushanian’s arrest, a highway section near Goris was blocked by several
hundred protesters, forcing Pashinian to cut short his trip to Syunik.
The prime minister was able to visit only one provincial town, Sisian.
Addressing several hundred supporters who gathered there, he condemned the road
blockade and said its organizers want to prevent similar gatherings in Goris,
the provincial capital Kapan and other communities which he said would expose
continuing popular support for him.
Pashinian is facing growing pressure to resign from the Armenian opposition and
many public figures. He has rejected the opposition demands backed by President
Armen Sarkissian and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Pashinian Cuts Short Visit To Armenian Border Region Amid Protests
Armenia - Vehicles at a blocked section of a road outside Goris, December 21,
2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian faced protests by angry residents of Armenia’s
southeastern Syunik province as he visited it on Monday following further
Armenian troop withdrawals resulting from the Russian-brokered ceasefire in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The protests forced Pashinian to cut short his visit.
Syunik borders the Zangelan and Kubatli districts southwest of Karabakh which
were mostly recaptured by Azerbaijan during the war. Parts of the districts
close to the provincial capital Kapan and other communities remained under
Armenian control until last week.
Armenian army units and local militias completed their withdrawal from those
areas at the weekend despite protests staged by many local residents. The latter
say that they can no longer feel safe because Azerbaijani forces will now be
stationed dangerously close to their communities.
The troop redeployments also raised questions about the safety of a road
connecting Kapan to another provincial town, Goris. Some of its sections
straddle the Soviet-era Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry and National Security Service (NSS) insisted over the
weekend that the road, which is also part of the country’s vital transport link
with Iran, will remain open for traffic.
A Defense Ministry statement said Russian border guards deployed in Syunik will
guarantee its security. Pashinian announced, meanwhile, that he will tour Syunik
on Monday and try to personally reassure the region’s population.
Armenia -- Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian (R) visits a new Armenian
army post set up in Syunik province, December 18, 2020.
In an extraordinary move, Goris Mayor Arush Arushanian, urged supporters late on
Sunday to block the main regional highway and bar Pashinian from entering the
mountainous region bordering Iran.
“This is not a political orientation or a partisan initiative. This is a fight
for the dignity, security and physical existence of the people of Syunik,” he
said in an appeal posted on Facebook.
Arushanian was arrested overnight. This did not prevent hundreds of his
supporters from gathering in Goris early in the morning. A convoy of vehicles
carrying them was stopped just outside Goris riot police units sent from
Yerevan. Some protesters and police officers briefly clashed at the scene.
Hundreds of other protesters blocked a highway section more than a dozen
kilometers northwest of Goris.
Armenia - Prime Minister NikolPashinian pays tribute to soldiers killed in the
Nagorno-Karabakh war and buried at a military cemetery in Sisian, December 21,
2020.
Arushanian was among the heads of more than a dozen Syunik communities who
issued earlier this month statements condemning Pashinian’s handling of the war
with Azerbaijan and demanding his resignation.
Pashinian condemned the road blockade as a “provocation” when he began his tour
of Syunik in another provincial town, Sisian, in the morning.
Addressing several hundred supporters that gathered in Sisian’s main square, he
claimed that organizers of the protests want to prevent similar gatherings in
Goris and Kapan which he said would expose continuing popular support for him.
The embattled prime minister insisted that he is ready to answer “tough
questions” from the region’s population. “I admit that there are question to
which we have no answers now,” he added.
With the protesters refusing to unblock the roads, Pashinian announced early in
the afternoon that he will not travel to Goris, Kapan and other Syunik towns.
“We will not resort to the use of force especially during this mourning period
[for Armenian victims of the war,]” he wrote on Facebook. “We are returning to
Yerevan.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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