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    Categories: 2022

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/26/2022

                                        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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Arsine Chaltikian: