Azerbaijan has suspended a planned ground offensive into the flashpoint Nagorno-Karabakh region after Armenian separatist forces agreed to the terms of a ceasefire agreement brokered by Moscow.
“The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh accept the proposal of the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to cease fire,” a spokesperson for the “republic,” which isn’t internationally recognized, said in a statement.
The “Republic of Artsakh” is the Armenian name for the Karabakh region.
“An agreement was reached on the complete cessation of hostilities from 13:00 [local time] on Sept. 20, 2023,” the statement reads.
Baku has likewise confirmed that a ceasefire was reached through the mediation of Moscow and Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region since 2020.
The ceasefire will be carried out “in coordination with the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent,” according to Russia’s defense ministry.
Baku Goes On an Offensive
On Sept. 19, Azerbaijan began a major ground offensive into Karabakh with the stated aim of exerting full control over the region.Dubbed an “anti-terrorist operation,” the move followed claims by Baku that several of its soldiers had been killed in attacks by ethnic Armenian separatists near the border.
According to Azerbaijan’s defense ministry, the operation aimed to “disarm and secure the withdrawal of Armenian military formations from our territories and neutralize their military infrastructure.”
Yerevan, which claims there are no Armenian forces in Karabakh, has called the offensive a “large-scale act of aggression.”
Armenia has also accused Azerbaijan of shelling ethnic Armenian towns and villages.
Ethnic Armenian sources in Karabakh said at least 25 people had been killed—and scores injured—in the opening phase of Azerbaijan’s offensive.
Azerbaijan says it is using precision munitions and striking exclusively military targets.
Before the ceasefire deal was struck, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by phone and urged him to halt the offensive.
Mr. Aliyev said the operation had come in response to repeated “provocations” by the Armenian side.
The European Union, France, and Germany also criticized the military action, urging Azerbaijan to resolve its dispute with Armenia at the negotiating table.
Despite protests from Western capitals, Azerbaijani forces have assumed control over several strategic positions in the region, according to Azerbaijani officials.
“Over 90 positions, where Armenian forces were concentrated ... have been taken under control by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces,” a defense ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the Azertag news agency.
The spokesman went on to claim that significant amounts of Armenian arms and equipment had been seized during the short-lived operation.
The Epoch Times couldn’t independently verify assertions made by either side.
Simmering Conflict
For decades, the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the mountainous Karabakh region has remained a source of instability.Most of Karabakh’s 120,000 inhabitants are ethnic Armenians, but the region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
In 2020, the two countries fought a six-week war that ended with a Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement that left Azerbaijan in control of the region.
Since then, Russian peacekeepers have remained deployed along the fraught Armenia-Azerbaijan border, where violence still erupts intermittently.
Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of blocking its only land route into Karabakh—the so-called Lachin corridor—and triggering a humanitarian crisis in the region. Baku, however, denies the allegation, claiming Armenia uses the Lachin corridor to funnel weapons and troops into the enclave.
After a deadly border clash on Sept. 1, Armenia accused Moscow of failing to ensure its security in the face of Azerbaijani “aggression.”
Since 1991, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a six-nation military alliance led by Russia.
While Azerbaijan isn’t a CSTO member, it does enjoy close relations with Moscow, which has long sought to mediate a lasting peace between the perennial foes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently expressed his frustration with the ongoing dispute.
On Sept. 12, he stated explicitly that, under the 2020 ceasefire deal, Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan.
Both sides, Mr. Putin said, had “put it on paper.”
Yerevan Tilts Westward
Despite Armenia’s membership in the Russia-led CSTO, recent weeks have seen indications of mounting friction between Moscow and Yerevan.Earlier this month, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Kyiv, where she met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Yerevan also recently started sending humanitarian aid shipments to Ukraine.
Moreover, Armenia recently began the process of ratifying the Rome Statute, thereby endorsing the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Earlier this year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Putin on war crimes charges—charges that Moscow describes as baseless.
But perhaps most notably, last week, Armenia began holding joint drills with the U.S. Army at two facilities near Yerevan. The 10-day drills were aimed at training Armenia’s military to participate in international peacekeeping operations.
When the war games kicked off, a State Department spokesman described them as “a routine exercise that is in no way tied to any other events.”
Nevertheless, the drills were disconcerting to Moscow, which considers Armenia a regional ally—through the CSTO—and views the South Caucasus as its historic backyard.
Last week, Yuri Kim, U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, said it’s “too early to tell” if Armenia is drifting into the Western orbit.
Nevertheless, Ms. Kim voiced optimism that Yerevan might be persuaded “to partner with us, as opposed to Russia.”
Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 14, Ms. Kim said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had provided Washington with “opportunities” to “develop relationships” with states of the South Caucasus.
US ‘Foothold’ in Region
On the same day, Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian State Duma’s international affairs committee, accused Washington of seeking to exploit the Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute to establish a “foothold” in the region.“Washington is ready to ‘help’ Yerevan in hopes of gaining a new anti-Russian foothold in the South Caucasus,” said Mr. Slutsky, the leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party.
When asked about the Russian claims, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times, “We do not compete with Russia with regard to our facilitation of the peace process in the South Caucasus region.”
“That being said,” the spokesperson added, “we have seen nothing to indicate that Russia’s military presence contributes to a more peaceful and stable South Caucasus region.”
The spokesperson stressed that the United States “was not party to the [Moscow-brokered] 2020 ceasefire arrangement” between Baku and Yerevan.
“Russia put itself forward as guarantor for the arrangement,” the spokesperson said. “But it has not done what it is supposed to do in terms of keeping the Lachin [corridor] open and preventing further violence.”
