Despite a ceasefire, tensions have risen again in the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh. There is talk of the advance of Azerbaijani forces. Russia and France warn to retreat. Is there a connection to the Ukraine war?
Russia has accused Azerbaijan of encroaching on the area of responsibility of peacekeeping forces dispatched from Moscow in the contested South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani forces have carried out four drone strikes in the past few days near the town of Furuch in the area to which Armenia also claims, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. Azerbaijan had been asked to withdraw its troops.
According to the media, the internationally unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh temporarily declared a state of war. Three Armenians were killed in recent fighting on Friday. The Armenian Foreign Ministry had also accused Azerbaijan of invading Russian-controlled areas.
Russia monitors ceasefire
Azerbaijan denied that it violated a peace agreement signed with Armenia and Russia. Rather, the defense ministry in Baku accused Armenia of still not having withdrawn all its soldiers from the part of Karabakh allocated to Azerbaijan.
In autumn 2020, Azerbaijan had recaptured large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been controlled by Armenia for decades, in a brief war. A truce is overseen by Russian troops. Despite this, armed clashes continue to occur.
Several media recently suspected that Russia had withdrawn soldiers from Karabakh to use them in the war in Ukraine. This in turn has destabilized the situation in the South Caucasus. Russia has not yet confirmed this. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow has now said that the Russian peacekeeping forces are trying to resolve the situation.
France’s foreign minister speaks out
France, which is co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group for a negotiated solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, regretted the armed incidents and troop movements, the Foreign Ministry said in Paris. France demanded that the allegedly advanced forces withdraw to their original positions in accordance with the 2020 ceasefire.
There was concern that gas supplies to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh would be disrupted again. In his recent talks with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, the French foreign minister called for supplies to be restored as soon as possible.
Source: Stern
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