Eurasia Press & News
Days after an agreement was signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the withdrawal of troops and the establishment of a peacekeeping patrol line to assist in the ceasefire process, Russian peacekeepers were ambushed and fired upon by enemy troops.
According to initial information disseminated by the Russian media Avia.pro, the attack was carried out by unknown individuals with small arms and the use of artillery weapons. Initially, sources suggested that it was an attack by backward Syrian mercenaries or pro-Turkish soldiers in the area of Agdam, where Russian peacekeepers patrolled and guarded the territory.
Other sources claim that the attack on Russian troops was carried out by forces of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which have so far refused to abide by the signed agreement, have not yet withdrawn their troops from the conflict area and are not hiding their hostility to Russian troops.
So far, this information has been confirmed only by field and on-site sources, but there is no official confirmation of the information by the Russian authorities, and there is no official denial of this information. There is no information on casualties so far, nor information on countering Russian peacekeepers.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, active clashes are taking place in the disputed territory. Martial law was introduced in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and mobilization was announced. Both sides reported killed and wounded, including civilians. In Baku, they announced the control of several Karabakh villages and strategic heights. Yerevan also reports about the shelling of the territory of Armenia.
On November 10 the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh a month after its new outbreak, which returned to Baku much of the remaining Armenian-controlled territories since 1994.
This is not the final solution to the conflict, which claimed 30,000 lives at the end of the last century and an unknown number in the last month. However, with it, Armenia, which has suffered heavy losses from Azerbaijan is making radical concessions.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan SSR.
During the armed conflict in 1992-1994, the Azerbaijani side lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven areas adjacent to it. Since 1992, negotiations have been conducted within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group on a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is led by co-chairs – Russia, USA and France.
In 1994, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, through the mediation of Russia, signed the Bishkek Armistice Protocol. At the same time, military operations did not stop there, which periodically renewed. The most significant exacerbation of the conflict was the four-day war of 2016. Then hundreds of soldiers on both sides became victims.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan last year, called for a rhetoric that would go against the fundamental principles endorsed by both sides and enshrined in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act when resolving the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh. At the same time, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted that much more needs to be done to achieve a long-term political settlement.
