Putin, Pashinian Agree On Withdrawal Of Russian Troops From Some Armenian Regions

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service May 09, 2024

Russian border guards will withdraw from a number of regions of Armenia but will continue to be deployed on the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian border following an agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The announcement by the Kremlin on May 9 marks a new step in Yerevan distancing itself from traditional ally Russia following accusations by Armenia that the Russian peacekeepers deployed in and around the region of Nagorno-Karabakh after a bloody war with Azerbaijan in 2020 did not do enough to stop a lightning offensive launched by Baku in September.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move was discussed and agreed upon at Pashinian's request during talks between the two leaders in Moscow on May 8.

"In the autumn 2020, at the request of the Armenian side, our troops were deployed to a number of Armenian regions. Pashinian said that currently, due to changed conditions, they are no longer needed, so President Putin agreed and the withdrawal of our military and border guards was agreed," Peskov said.

According to the agreement, the Russian border guards and military points located in Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik, and Ararat will end their deployment and withdraw from those points.

Some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have already withdrawn from the Nagorno-Karabakh area that had been for three decades under ethnic Armenian control.

Armenian authorities have accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war of failing to stop Azerbaijan's new offensive in September.

Russia has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn't have a mandate to intervene and charging that Pashinian had effectively paved the way for the collapse of separatist rule in Nagorno-Karabakh by previously acknowledging Azerbaijan's sovereignty over it.

Armenia has also asked Moscow to withdraw the Russian border guards that had been deployed at Yerevan's main airport starting from August 1.

In March, Pashinian said in an interview with the France 24 television channel that his country had also frozen its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The CSTO has been at the heart of Armenia's turn away from Moscow, with Pashinian's government having long criticized the Russia-led security grouping for its "failure to respond to the security challenges" facing Armenia.

Pashinian declined to attend a CSTO summit in Minsk in November and said in a televised Q&A session then that any decision about Yerevan's continued membership in the grouping -- which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan -- would be based on Armenia's "own state interests."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/karabakh-pashinian-putin-turkey- iran-csto/32939732.html

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