MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. The deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh creates conditions for the restoration of normal life in this region, visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Tuesday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"Russia played a key role in curbing Azerbaijan’s aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces in Artsakh (unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic – TASS) as a factor of preventing Baku’s provocations and a factor ensuring the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh creates conditions for the restoration of normal life," he said.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 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. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.
The situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has been tense since May 12, when Armenia’s defense ministry said that Azerbaijani armed forces had tried to carry out "certain works" in a border area in Syunik Province in a bid to "adjust the border." Since then, the sides have been reporting border incidents from time to time.