[1/2]FILE PHOTO – Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2023. Portal/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo Acquire License Rights
Sept 8 (Portal) – Russia summoned Armenia’s ambassador on Friday to protest what it said were “unfriendly steps” as tensions rose in the South Caucasus over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Within hours, the Armenian Foreign Ministry released a statement expressing readiness to resolve disputes with Azerbaijan over the territory, which has been the scene of two wars in the past 30 years.
The Russian complaints were not addressed.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a series of statements that Armenia poses a threat to regional stability by encouraging separatism in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Thursday of moving troops near their shared border.
Russia made a “harsh portrayal” to the Armenian ambassador on Friday over its entry into the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
It was also unhappy with Armenia’s agreement to co-host a military exercise with the United States and with a humanitarian visit to Ukraine by the Armenian prime minister’s wife.
Armenia is home to a Russian military base and relies almost entirely on Russia for defense supplies.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview published this week that Armenia’s policy of relying solely on Russia to ensure its security was a strategic mistake.
He said Moscow, distracted by the war with Ukraine, had been unable to deliver and had scaled back its role in the South Caucasus.
Karabakh, long recognized as part of Azerbaijan, is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, Armenian forces captured areas around Karabakh, but Azerbaijan retook the areas in a six-week conflict in 2020 that ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire. So far the talks have failed to lead to long-term peace.
Armenia complains that Russian peacekeepers monitoring the 2020 ceasefire failed to end an Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. It has also openly questioned whether it should remain in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance of six former Soviet republics.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview published this week that Armenia’s policy of relying solely on Russia to ensure its security was a strategic mistake.
Moscow asserts that it wants to remain the most important guarantor of security in the Caucasus.
A foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told Portal his country was ready to allow Red Cross aid from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh if at the same time Red Crescent aid from Azerbaijan was permitted.
reporting by Portal; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Edited by William Maclean, Mark Heinrich, Ron Popeski and Richard Chang
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