On 13 November, the spokesperson of Russia’s President, Dmitry Peskov, spoke on the agreement signed between Vladimir Putin, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev which ended the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Peskov stated that Putin played a key role in resolving the conflict. "Many, many days of hard work preceded the signing, sometimes even round-the-clock work, it was President Putin’s work,” he stated. Peskov added that Putin spent a lot of time on the phone to hold talks with Aliyev and Pashinyan and that the whole issue was not resolved within a day.
He also said that the command of the Armed Forces of Russia needs to answer the question regarding the technical specifics of the participation of Russian peacekeepers in the transfer of the Lachin region to Azerbaijan. Peskov also emphasised that no conflict between the Azerbaijani and Armenian diasporas in Russia is expected following the agreement.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova stated that the issue of the presence of foreign militants in Nagorno-Karabakh still needs to be resolved. “Unfortunately, the militants who moved to Karabakh did not disappear, ’they did not evaporate.’ We [Russia] assume that this issue will be resolved, and all parties interested in peace in this region must make efforts to resolve it," Zakharova stated.
It was also reported that Russian investigators opened a case after the death of the Mi-24 helicopter crew in Armenia from 9 November under the Article 351 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of flight rules or preparation for them). It was highlighted that at present the Russian military investigators, together with their colleagues from Armenia and Azerbaijan, were carrying out initial investigative actions.
Peskov also spoke on the issue, by saying that Moscow is waiting for information from Baku on the investigation into the incident. When asked if Russia trusts Azerbaijan in terms of the particulars of this investigation, Peskov shunned the question off as irrelevant.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbul Oglu also faced criticism from his country after the statements he made regarding the helicopter incident. To note, Oglu stated that “war is war” when referencing the incident. The assistant to Azerbaijan’s President Hikmet Hajiyev said that Oglu made arbitrary statements that do not reflect the official position of Baku. “The statements of the Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia about the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, without realising the essence of the issue, are unacceptable,” Hajiyev said. The Azerbaijani parliamentarian Vahid Ahmadov even called for Bulbul Oglu to resign from his post.
