Day: February 14, 2024

The Collective Security Treaty Organization sees a ‘high likelihood’ of escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov, the bloc’s Joint Chief of Staff said Wednesday.

Serdyukov said that the CSTO has seen attempts by certain countries to strengthen their positions in the South Caucasus, in order to gain access to the resources of the Caspian Sea and ensure direct access to Central Asia,” the Russian Tass agency reported.

“The high likelihood of a conflict on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, among others, is being used for this. The signing of a peace treaty will be important to resolve the situation,” Serdyukov said.

He also accused the West of trying to influence the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process despite Armenia’s membership to CSTO.

“Despite Armenia’s membership to the organization, outside attempts to influence the post-conflict settlement format continue,” the CSTO official said.
Serdyukov’s comments came a day after Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian position in the Nerkin Hand region of the Syunik Province, killing four soldiers and injuring another.

Yerevan condemned the attack and called it a “provocation aimed at derailing peace talks.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed “deep concern” Wednesday over what it described as military “incidents” on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing that Armenia and Azerbaijan should refrain from any actions that would escalate the situation.

“We are calling on Baku and Yerevan to display restraint and make steps for de-escalation,” she said, saying the sides must resolve disputes peacefully.

She added that the countries should adhere to the 2020-2022 Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral statements. “We are convinced that territorial disputes should be resolved as part of the work of the bilateral commission on delimitation,” Zakharova added.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Russia said on Wednesday that it is discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of the safe return of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population displaced by last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive.

Azerbaijan launched the offensive despite a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Armenia has denounced Russian peacekeepers for their failure to prevent or stop the September 19-20 assault that restored Baku’s full control over Karabakh and forced the region’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have rejected the criticism.

“Moscow and Baku are discussing prospects for the return of the Armenian population to Karabakh,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told a news briefing in Moscow.

Zakharova gave no details of those discussions. She stressed the importance of “ensuring the rights and security” of Karabakh Armenians willing to return to their homeland. Earlier this week, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin similarly called for “creating conditions” for their repatriation.

“We are ready to provide necessary support to that process, including through Russian peacekeeping troops whose presence is of great importance,” Galuzin told the official TASS news agency.

Even before their exodus, Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents made clear that they would not live under Azerbaijani rule. None of the more than 100,000 Karabakh refugees are known to have expressed a desire to return home in the current circumstances.

Last month, Karabakh’s main political factions exiled in Armenia set up a political committee to campaign for their “collective repatriation.” The committee is headed by Vartan Oskanian, a former Armenian foreign minister

Oskanian said earlier this month that Armenia should seek “international guarantees” for the repatriation and raise the matter during peace talks with Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly indicated, however, that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s special envoy on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Igor Khovayev, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not mention the possible repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians in its readout of the meeting.

The ministry cited Bayramov as blaming Armenia for Tuesday’s fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left four Armenian soldiers dead. He accused Yerevan of undermining the negotiation process.

Pashinyan charged on Tuesday that the ceasefire violation shows that Baku lacks the political will to negotiate a peace treaty with Yerevan and is intent on heightening tensions along the border.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday met with NATO’s Special Representative to the Caucasus Javier Colomina in Brussels on Wednesday and discussed further cooperation between Yerevan and the U.S.-led security bloc.

According to Armenia’s foreign ministry, Mirzoyan reiterated Armenia’s vision for overcoming existing challenges, based on well-known principles. The efforts aimed at further enhancing the Armenia-NATO partnership were touched upon.”

The two also touched on regional developments and attempts to destabilize the situation, presumably following Azerbaijan’s attack on Syunik on Tuesday, during which four Armenian soldiers were killed and another was wounded.

Last month Colomina praised Armenia’s partnership with NATO, angering Russia, which quickly said NATO and the West could not be trusted.

After Colomina’s praise of Armenia, in an interview with Armenpress late last month, Moscow warned Yerevan that its recent efforts to forge close relations with NATO and the West might not yield the desired results, saying history has shown that those seeking rapprochement with NATO risk losing their sovereignty and independence.

“We are very encouraged by the decisions that Armenia has decided to take in their foreign policy and defense policy, the shift they have decided to implement,” Colomina told Armenpress.

He also said that Armenia’s decision to become closer with NATO “is difficult to implement and will probably take a long time, but, of course, we encourage our partners to get closer to us, and that is what Armenia is doing.”

Moscow was quick to respond, underscoring that NATO and the United States are not trustworthy allies and said historically those nations that have forged alliances with them have wound up on the losing side, given that “in the last 30 to 40 years” NATO and the U.S. had not fulfilled their promises their allied nations.