The mountainous region, located within Azerbaijan’s international borders, had been governed by its ethnic Armenian residents as the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since the war following the fall of the Soviet Union.
However, the Russian military contingent did not intervene when Azerbaijan began a long-term blockade of the region’s supply lines starting in December 2022, triggering a humanitarian crisis. Moscow’s forces also withdrew from their positions between the two sides in September last year, moments before Azerbaijan launched a surprise offensive to take full control of the breakaway region. Almost all of the 100,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh fled their homes following the attack.
In December, Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that “our military contingent continues to perform tasks as a guarantor of the possibility of building a peaceful life and the return of residents to the region “. But no mechanism has been put in place to allow refugees to return home.
News of the withdrawal comes as a growing divide has emerged between Armenia and its historic ally Russia. The South Caucasus country recently rejected Moscow by freezing its membership in Russia’s CSTO military bloc before holding joint military exercises with the United States. Yerevan is also pushing for closer integration with the European Union.
Politices
