Soldiers begin departing from the South Caucasus region, which has been a long-standing dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Russian peacekeepers have begun withdrawing from Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region, officials said, ending Russia's years-long military presence in the region.
“This is a fact,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax news agency in response to media questions on Wednesday, without giving a timetable for the withdrawal.
Around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers were sent to the South Caucasus breakaway region in November 2020 under a Moscow-brokered deal halting six weeks of fighting between Azerbaijani forces and ethnic Armenian forces. He was sent to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Despite the deployment, Azerbaijan recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh by force last September, a move that triggered the exodus of 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh and the arrest of the breakaway region's Armenian leaders. Ta.
Armenia's political leadership at the time accused Russia of failing to protect Armenia's interests, an accusation Russia rejected. Peacekeepers were originally scheduled to stay until November 2025.
Azerbaijan news agency APA reported late on Tuesday that Russian peacekeepers had begun withdrawing, with the first personnel and equipment leaving an Armenian-worshipped monastery in Azerbaijan's Kalbajar district several days ago.
Hikmet Hajiyev, a foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, was quoted by the state news agency Azertak as confirming that a withdrawal agreement had been signed.
“The leaders of the two countries decided on the early withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces temporarily stationed in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan in accordance with the trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020,” the paper said.
“The process has already begun in which the ministries of defense of Azerbaijan and Russia will take appropriate measures to implement the decision.”
The withdrawal comes as Russia faces widespread pressure, with neighboring Armenia demanding Russian border guards evacuate its main airport and Georgia confronting protesters in what it claims is a pro-Kremlin government. It was held inside.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has publicly questioned the country's traditional alliance with Russia, which maintains a range of military facilities in the country, and has begun forging closer ties with Western powers.
Armenia has asked Russian border guards to leave their post from the airport in the capital, Yerevan, starting August 1.
Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at war for years over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh's population is primarily Christian Armenian, but 4,500 square kilometers (1,750 square miles) of its territory lies within Muslim-majority Azerbaijan. It is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.