Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Tuesday he had complained to Vladimir Putin about “problems” with Russia’s peacekeeping force’s failure to contain rising tensions with Azerbaijan.
In a phone interview on Monday, “I spoke (with Mr. Putin) about the danger of a possible escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh. I think there are problems in the area of responsibility of the peacekeeping force. Russia’s peace,” the Armenian prime minister told a news conference.
Citing the recent deaths of Armenian police officers in clashes with Azerbaijan, he added: “I would like to emphasize that this happened under the responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping force. This concerns us and I expressed this concern during my interview with Putin.”
The Russian army, which has for weeks been heavily criticized by Yerevan, who accuses it of being passive, said Monday its peacekeepers stopped a shootout between the belligerents on Sunday that killed five people.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region populated mostly by Armenians that split away from Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nagorno-Karabakh continues to poison Yerevan-Baku relations.
Despite the presence of Russian soldiers, clashes continue to erupt in Karabakh and on the border between the two countries, which could shatter the fragile ceasefire agreed after Yerevan lost a war in 2020. And Russia seems to be having trouble exerting its influence over the warring factions now that its resources are focused on its invasion of Ukraine.
“Today, there is a very high possibility of an escalation along the Armenian border and in Nagorno-Karabakh… Every day, Azerbaijan’s rhetoric is becoming more aggressive,” Mr. Pashinyan said.
Highlighting recent “progress” in the peace talks, Mr Pashinyan nevertheless noted that “fundamental problems” are preventing further progress.
“We see Azerbaijan trying to sign a peace treaty with territorial claims…which of course is a red line for Armenia,” he said.
In addition to the clashes, Armenia has also denounced the blocking of a key supply route to an Armenian enclave in Nagorno-Karabakh since mid-December by Azerbaijanis posing as environmental activists and accusing Baku of wanting to carry out “ethnic cleansing”.
Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists, militarily backed by Yerevan, clashed in two wars for their control, one leading to the breakup of the USSR that claimed 30,000 lives, the other in autumn 2020 that left 6,500 dead.
A 2020 ceasefire for the conflict, signed under Moscow’s aegis, was followed by the deployment of a contingent of Russian peacekeepers, but tensions remain high and negotiations to sign a peace treaty are stalled.