MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to end bloodshed and pursue peace negotiations, after Baku started “anti-terror operations” in the disputed Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia urges an end to the bloodshed and a return to a peaceful settlement. She said that all measures for a peaceful solution are spelled out in Moscow-brokered deals inked between 2020 and 2022.
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Conflict between Azerbaijan, Armenia
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old territorial dispute since their independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Both countries have fought several skirmishes and a war in 2020.
Now, Azerbaijan has launched military action in Nagorno-Karabakh, a step that could presage a new war in the volatile region. However, Baku said that it was necessary to restore constitutional order and drive out Armenian military formations from the area.
It was not clear whether Baku’s military action would trigger a full-scale war dragging in Armenia or be a more limited military operation.
The fighting could alter the geopolitical balance in the South Caucasus region, which is crisscrossed with gas and oil pipelines, and where Russia – distracted by its own conflict with Ukraine – is trying to preserve its influence in the face of greater interest from Turkiye, which backs Azerbaijan.
