MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. Russian peacekeepers will not take part in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh on anyone's side, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said.

"Those who expect this [peacekeeping] contingent to take any action outside its peacekeeping mandate will be wrong. Neither Russia nor the Russian peacekeeping contingent has the right to, or is going to take part in the hostilities on anyone's side, or try to resolve the issues of the status, shift the balance in anyone's favor," he said on Telegram.

He said Russia should reckon with Yerevan’s decision to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, which was affirmed at summits that were held under the auspices of the European Union in October 2022 and May 2023.

"And if some hotheads in Armenia, or in Russia, or anywhere else call, for example, for the Russian troops stationed in the Armenian city of Gyumri to intervene, in view of the alleged attack on CSTO member Armenia, then legally this is not true at all. De jure, the hostilities are taking place on the territory that Armenia recognized as part of Azerbaijan," Kosachev stated.

He pointed to some remaining controversial issues, such as the status of Armenian troops and the local government in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"But what’s more important is the fact that there is an agreement to hold talks with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers. This means that the situation is being kept under control, even as someone might be interested in escalation for reasons including purely geopolitical objectives, for example, to demonstrate Russia's alleged failure in the region," the lawmaker said.

Kosachev said that the Russian peacekeeping force has fully proved its efficiency as it has working relations with all parties to the conflict and has managed to prevent any dangerous humanitarian ramifications for the local population.

"We will try to bring the situation back in line with the trilateral summit agreements of 2020-2022, where all steps for a peaceful solution to the Karabakh problem were quite clearly set forth. Departure from these agreements is fraught with new outbreaks of violence, and therefore there is a need for a common understanding that no problems in the region can be solved by force, but only through patient negotiations and with firm guarantees of security and respect for the rights of the local population. Russia here is firmly on the side of the people and the spirit and letter of the agreements," he said.

The lawmaker credited Russia and personally its President Vladimir Putin for "keeping the situation in check for a long time" on the basis of the trilateral agreements of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia that were reached in November 2020. He also said that it was largely thanks to Russian peacekeepers that the escalation had subsided in recent hours.

The conflict and its escalation

The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh has been ongoing since the late 1980s. On September 19, the situation escalated again when Baku announced the start of "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region.

Yerevan said there were no Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and described the move by Azerbaijan as "an act of large-scale aggression."

Russia called on the sides of the conflict to halt the bloodshed and return to diplomacy. On September 20, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry an agreement had been reached, with the help of the Russian peacekeeping force, to suspend the anti-terrorist operation in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from 12:00 p.m. Moscow time. The Azerbaijani presidency said that representatives of Azerbaijan and the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh will hold a meeting in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh on September 21 to discuss the issues of the region’s reintegration.