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Further presence of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh not for Armenia to decide — premier

When asked by a reported about the future of the 102nd military base, which is the only Russian base in Transcaucasia and has a contingent of about 5,000 servicemen, the Armenian premier said his country has not raised the issue

YEREVAN, October 11. /TASS/. It is not for Armenia to decide whether the Russian peacekeeping mission will remain in Karabakh, although the matter is being discussed with Yerevan, the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

"The issue of further presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh does not depend on us, or depends not only on us. Russia is holding certain discussions with Azerbaijan. We are also involved in discussing this issue. Therefore, I cannot directly answer the question regarding further presence of peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan said in an interview with Public Television.

When asked by a reported about the future of the 102nd military base, which is the only Russian base in Transcaucasia and has a contingent of about 5,000 servicemen, the Armenian premier said his country has not raised the issue.

"Armenia is not raising the issue <…> because the legal framework for their presence on the territory of Armenia remains in force in its entirety. That is why neither we nor Russia are raising this issue," the premier added.

The base is stationed in Armenia under the interstate agreement of 1995. The document was amended in 2010. According to the changes, the term of base’s presence was extended from the initial 25 years to 49 years, until 2044. The base has two garrisons - near Gyumri and Yerevan.