Russian forces withdraw from Karabakh

Russian forces are being withdrawn from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, where they have been stationed as peacekeepers since the end of a war in 2020, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said yesterday.

In a conference call with journalists, Dmitry Peskov confirmed reports of the withdrawal but did not give further details.

The Karabakh region had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia’s military since 1994.

But Azerbaijan took control of sizeable parts of the region in a sixweek war in 2020.

That war ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire which called for placing about 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the parts of Karabakh that were still held by Armenians. The forces’ duties were to include ensuring free passage on the sole road connecting Karabakh with Armenia.

But Azerbaijan began blocking the road in late 2022, alleging Armenians were using it for weapons shipments and to smuggle minerals, and the Russian forces did not intervene.

After months of increasingly dire food and medicine shortages in Karabakh due to the blockade, Azerbaijan launched a lighting blitz in September 2023 which forced the Karabakh Armenian authorities to capitulate after one day in negotiations mediated by Russian forces.

Dmitry Peskov.