Author: Ara Felekian

                                        Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Russia ‘Doing Everything’ To End Fighting In Nagorno-Karabakh

        • Aza Babayan

RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with heads of 
religious confessions on the National Unity Day, via a video conference call in 
Moscow, November 4, 2020

Moscow is doing everything in its power to put an end to the armed conflict in 
Nagorno-Karabakh as soon as possible, Russian President Vladimir Putin said 
during a meeting with representatives of religious organizations on Wednesday.

Putin said that a halt to hostilities will save the lives of people “who stand 
opposite each other and, unfortunately, still see each other through rifle 
sights.”

“They are using weapons against each other to achieve goals that, in our deep 
conviction, could be achieved through a negotiation process,” the Russian leader 
said.

Putin again stressed that Russia stays in contact with both Armenia and 
Azerbaijan.

“I hope that we will be able to achieve a result on the basis that would suit 
all people living in the region, and achieve it by peaceful means,” Putin added.

As the Kremlin reported earlier this week, Putin had separate telephone 
conversations with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev on November 1 and 2, respectively. It said the situation 
in Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed during the phone calls. But Russia’s Deputy 
Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko cautioned on Tuesday that it was yet too early 
to speak about a possible meeting between the two South Caucasus leaders.

Putin’s remarks today came amid reports of fresh fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh 
where ethnic Armenian forces and Azerbaijan have been making claims and 
counterclaims about successful defensive and offensive operations that are 
difficult to confirm independently.

Either side also accuses the other of targeting civilians in the armed conflict 
that broke out on September 27.

Both sides have reported scores of deaths among civilians. Armenians have also 
confirmed 1,177 deaths among their military. Azerbaijan does not disclose its 
military casualties, considering them a wartime secret. Russia has estimated as 
many as 5,000 deaths on both sides.



Armenia Sees Azerbaijan’s Advancement In Karabakh As ‘Ethnic Cleansing’


Armenian President Armen Sarkissian (archive photo)

Azerbaijan is seeking to take over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by 
annihilating its ethnic Armenian population, Armenia’s President Armen 
Sarkissian charged while meeting with a group of local and foreign politicians, 
public figures and journalists in Yerevan on Wednesday.

As quoted by his press office, Sarkissian stressed that “Azerbaijan’s claims 
that they are liberating their territories has, in fact, another internationally 
accepted formulation, which is called ‘ethnic cleansing’.”

“They are now destroying schools, hospitals, committing inhumane acts, taking 
away human lives: of the elderly, children and young people,” the Armenian 
president said, emphasizing that “Armenians have lived in Nagorno-Karabakh for 
thousands of years.”

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the 
Italian La Republica newspaper that Baku will guarantee the security and better 
life for ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I have repeatedly said that all residents of Nagorno-Karabakh will continue to 
live there peacefully and with dignity. Armenians are our citizens,” Aliyev 
said, as reported by AzerTac state news agency.


Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

“Thousands of Armenians live in various places in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku. 
Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh can rest assured that their security will 
be guaranteed and that they will have a better financial situation and better 
life than today,” the Azerbaijani leader said.

The remarks by the two countries’ leaders came amid reports of fresh fighting in 
Nagorno-Karabakh where ethnic Armenian forces claimed to have repulsed two 
attacks by Azerbaijan troops in the southern direction on November 4 morning and 
afternoon, destroying several Azeri tanks and other materiel.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, denied losing any tanks in the reported battles, on the 
contrary, claiming its successful operations, in particular, in the Khojavend 
(Martuni) direction. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denies its forces target 
civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh.



Heavy Fighting Reported In Nagorno-Karabakh


An ethnic Armenian artillery unit during a combat in Nagorno-Karabakh (archive 
photo)

Ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh have reported heavy fighting with 
Azerbaijani troops attempting to advance in the direction of Shushi (Shusha), a 
strategic town overlooking the region’s capital, Stepanakert.

In a report disseminated on Wednesday morning the ethnic Armenian Defense Army 
claimed that Azerbaijani commandos attempted a raid overnight towards the town 
sitting on a mountaintop some 10 kilometers to the south of Stepanakert, but 
were stopped in their tracks after meeting resistance from army units and 
volunteers defending the approaches to the town.

“The advancing group suffered heavy losses and was thrown back,” the report 
claimed.

“Actions on the encirclement and destruction of the group continue at this 
moment,” it added.

Official reports coming from Azerbaijan do not refer to any fighting near 
Shushi. According to Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, fighting of varying 
intensity continued in the Tartar, Aghdam, Khojavend (Martuni), Zangilan and 
Qubadli directions of the frontline.

Both armies claim to control “the operational-tactical situation” along the 
frontline.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Army also claimed in its report that Azerbaijani 
forces continued to shell civilian areas. It said there were wounded people 
among civilians as a result of the shelling.

On November 3, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement 
deploring Azerbaijan’s continued bombing of the civilian infrastructure in 
Stepanakert and Shushi with the use of cluster munitions.

It said that the Stepanakert Mother and Child Healthcare Center was targeted, in 
particular.

“The continuous targeting of Stepanakert’s medical facilities by the Azerbaijani 
armed forces once again demonstrates the goal of Azerbaijan’s military-political 
leadership to inflict maximum damage on the civilian population of Artsakh [the 
Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh], especially women and children far away from 
the frontline,” the ministry said.

“This is another manifestation of state terrorism carried out by a country which 
through the efforts of Turkey has already turned itself into a hub of 
concentration of international terrorist fighters in the South Caucasus. We 
emphasize that amid the existential threats the people of Artsakh are facing, 
the authorities and the Defense Army of Artsakh have the inalienable right to 
defend their own people and to counterattack the enemy,” it added.

Azerbaijan denies targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. In its turn it accuses Armenia and Armenia-backed forces in 
Nagorno-Karabakh of shelling populated areas inside Azerbaijan, a claim denied 
by Armenians.



Russia Calls For Ceasefire Control Mechanisms In Karabakh

        • Aza Babayan

RUSSIA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint press 
conference with his Armenian counterpart following their talks in Moscow on 
October 12, 2020.

A sustainable ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh would be difficult to achieve 
without agreements on effective control mechanisms, according to Russian Foreign 
Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In an interview with the Russian Kommersant daily on November 3 Lavrov said that 
such mechanisms could include the use of various electronic devices, a hot line 
between Yerevan and Baku, observers under the auspices of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), operations with the participation of 
military contingents.

“However, it has not yet been possible to agree on all the parameters,” he added.

Russia brokered the first of the three humanitarian ceasefires to halt ongoing 
military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh on October 10. However, that ceasefire 
as well as the two other agreements brokered by France and the United States 
later last month collapsed within hours after entering into force.

The top Russian diplomat said that although it was not immediately possible to 
achieve a sustainable ceasefire, Moscow will “continue to use all its influence 
in the region to persuade Baku and Yerevan to sit down at the negotiating table.”

“Moscow once again calls on the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and 
external partners to strictly respect the agreements on ceasefire, the creation 
of a control mechanism and the resumption of a substantial negotiation process 
with a specific timetable,” Lavrov said.

In the interview the Russian foreign minister also addressed the issue of 
mercenaries from the Middle East involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting, 
saying that the number of such fighters is approaching 2,000. He said that the 
Russian leadership periodically raises this issue and that this issue was also 
raised by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his telephone conversation 
with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 27.

Lavrov once again stressed that Russia is against changing the format of the 
mediation, which is currently led by Russia, the United States and France, but, 
noting the important role and influence of Turkey on Azerbaijan, said that 
“Moscow is working and will continue to work with Turkey to bring the parties to 
the conflict to the negotiating table.”

“We will continue to use all the influence we have in the region, we will work 
with our Turkish partners to stop the further unwinding of the military 
scenario, establish a dialogue between the parties and convince Baku and Yerevan 
to sit down at the negotiating table,” the top Russian diplomat said.

Earlier this week the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin held 
separate telephone conversations with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, on November 1 and November 2, 
respectively, and that “issues of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict were discussed in detail” during the phone calls.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, however, said that it is too 
early to speak about a possible meeting between the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan.

According to him, at the moment negotiations on the settlement of the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are being conducted at the expert level, primarily 
within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Rudenko once again stressed that Moscow stands for a political settlement of the 
conflict.

“We definitely assume that there can be no military solution to this conflict, 
that the solution should be a political, comprehensive one taking into account 
the interests of all parties concerned,” he said.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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