Russia urged Armenia and Azerbaijan a stop the bloodshed in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabajwhere Azerbaijan began a massive artillery attack on Tuesday morning.
According to the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria ZakharovaRussian Nagorno-Karabakh peacekeeping troops were informed minutes before before Baku began its operation.
Zakharova said Moscow is concerned about the climbing and that Moscow’s peacekeepers in the region will continue their mission.
The Kremlin called for calm in the region and noted that both Baku and Yerevan should sit down to negotiate to resolve the conflict. Azerbaijan said it needed to restore constitutional order and expel Armenian military units from Nagorno-Karabakh, which is largely controlled by ethnic Armenians with support from Yerevan. Armenia, Russia’s formal ally, denies having forces in the area.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, noted that the first thing “is to guarantee the security of the civilian population of Karabakh.” Peskov said the Russian military has been in contact with both sides, urging talks. Peskov added that the basis of the talks is the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a 2020 war in which Azerbaijan made significant progress: “We urge everyone to follow the provisions of these documents, naturally, taking into account “accounts for new realities, namely the fact that the Armenian side recognized the territory of Azerbaijan in 1991.”
Armenia has criticized the Russian inaction. Peskov, however, asserted that the Russian army “is working to return the solution process to political and diplomatic channels.”
Azerbaijan announced “anti-terrorist measures” in Nagorno-Karabakh and began bomb the territory of this unrecognized republic, including the capital, Stepanakert. Baku claims that only military targets are bombed, but Russian media sources in Nagorno-Karabakh claim that the Azerbaijani army is “targeting villages” in the region.