10:48,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Russia and Azerbaijan are finalizing the timeframes of the next round of talks around the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Ambassador of Russia in Azerbaijan Mikhail Yevdokimov has said.

“We are now agreeing upon the timeframes of the next round of negotiations on our peacekeeping contingent between Moscow and Baku with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister,” Yevdokimov told Izvestiya newspaper. 

Russia deployed around 2,000 peacekeepers to what was then the “line of contact” and the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh under the terms of the Moscow-mediated 2020 ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The peacekeepers were deployed for at least until 2025. The 2020 ceasefire agreement stipulated that the peacekeeping operation can be repeatedly extended by five more years if neither party objects to that.

The Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan said that the role of the peacekeeping contingent has changed after Azerbaijan took control of Nagorno-Karabakh. He said that the Russian troops are now patrolling along with Azeri troops in Nagorno-Karabakh and protecting buildings and cultural structures.

Azerbaijan perpetrated ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. The entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, over 100,000 Armenians, fled to Armenia after Azerbaijan launched a military attack.