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Post by Admin on Sept 26, 2023 11:21:25 GMT
An explosion at a fuel depot in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh has killed 20 people and injured hundreds more, local Armenian authorities say.
Nearly 300 people were admitted to hospitals, with dozens of them "still in critical condition".
It comes as the Armenian government said 13,350 refugees crossed into the country from the enclave.
The disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region is home to a majority of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
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Post by Admin on Sept 26, 2023 18:14:08 GMT
Following Azerbaijan's military action over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia accepted disarmament and effectively surrendered. Local Armenian residents continue to evacuate to Armenia, with approximately 19,000 people having arrived so far.
On the 24th, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan expressed his dissatisfaction with Russia, stating that ``Azerbaijan and Russian peacekeeping forces are responsible'' for the current situation, and expressed his dissatisfaction with Russia regarding the Russian-led military alliance CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). "This is not enough to ensure our security," he said.
In response, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the 25th, accusing the country of "trying to shift the blame for an unacceptable attack on Russia. Inspired by the West, it is trying to destroy the alliance with Russia."
After the invasion of Ukraine, it has been pointed out that Russia's influence in the region has declined, and Armenia appears to be growing dissatisfied with Russia and the CSTO, and is also showing signs of moving closer to the West, such as conducting military exercises with the United States.
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Post by Admin on Sept 28, 2023 14:58:42 GMT
On the 28th, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian government that claims independence in the disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia, announced on the 28th that it would dissolve all government agencies on January 1, 2024.
Last week, Azerbaijan effectively won the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by attacking areas controlled by ethnic Armenians, and agreed to a cease-fire on the condition that Nagorno-Karabakh disarm itself.
It is said that there are approximately 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the region who have been in conflict with Azerbaijan, and so far more than half, or 65,000, have taken refuge on the Armenian side due to fear of persecution.
Against this backdrop, on the 28th, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian government that claims independence from Azerbaijan, announced a presidential decree dissolving all government agencies by January 1, 2024.
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Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2024 5:27:21 GMT
(Reuters) - Armenia has frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) because the pact had failed the country, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
Pashinyan also said Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has fought two wars over the past three decades, was not adhering to the principles needed to clinch a long-term peace treaty, and suggested Azerbaijan was preparing to launch another attack.
Pashinyan told France 24 television that the CSTO pact, dominated by Russia, had failed Armenia.
"The Collective Security Treaty has not fulfilled its objectives as far as Armenia is concerned, particularly in 2021 and 2022. And we could not let that happen without taking notice," Pashinyan said through an interpreter.
"We have now in practical terms frozen our participation in this treaty. As for what comes next, we shall have to see."
He said there was no discussion for the moment of closing a Russian base in Armenia. That was subject to different treaties.
Pashinyan has in recent months expressed discontent with Armenia's longstanding ties with Russia and said Armenia could no longer rely on Russia to ensure its defence needs. He had suggested its membership of the CSTO was under review.
Other ex-Soviet members of the CSTO include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Azerbaijan recovered swathes of territory in 2020 in the second war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians but internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
Last year, Azerbaijan's military took control of the territory, prompting most of its residents to leave for Armenia.
In his remarks, Pashinyan said prospects for clinching a long-term peace treaty were hurt by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statements which Armenia interpreted as laying claim to large parts of Armenian territory."If the principles of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders are not recognised by Azerbaijan, it is simply not possible," he told France 24.
"Azerbaijan is using the situation to feed its rhetoric. That leads one to think that Azerbaijan is getting ready for a new attack on Armenia."
Key elements in securing a treaty are demarcation of borders and the establishment of regional transport corridors often through the territory of each others' territory.
Aliyev has also raised the issue of determining control of ethnic enclaves on both sides of the border.
Pashinyan and Aliyev have discussed moves towards a peace treaty at several meetings, including discussions last week at the Munich Security Conference.
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Post by Admin on Apr 7, 2024 12:49:11 GMT
Armenia now appears to be changing the very fundamentals of its foreign policy. Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan argued on March 9 that “these days, many new opportunities are being discussed in Armenia, and it will not be a secret if I say that membership in the European Union is included in them.”
The country’s growing interest in the EU coincides with the bloc’s renewed push for greater influence in the South Caucasus, where its many interests include expanding energy supply and shipments. The EU has increased its civilian mission to Armenia and launched a visa liberalization process.
Yet, it is the increasingly fraught ties with Russia that have pushed Armenia to seek closer cooperation with the EU. This promises future trouble.
It might be thought that Russia is less sensitive about EU expansion than about NATO membership but that is a serious misunderstanding. It was Ukraine’s decision to sign an association agreement with the EU in 2014 that triggered Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the beginnings of its war in Eastern Ukraine.
When any country, especially a former ally in what the Kremlin terms the “near abroad,” begins to push for closer ties with Brussels, it is seen as an abomination in Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Russia would seriously reconsider its relationship with Armenia if Yerevan continues drifting away and aligning with the West.
This is echoed elsewhere in Moscow. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, argued that the West’s intention is to destabilize the South Caucasus and undermine negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which retook the exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh by armed force in September.
Armenia, traditionally aligned with Russia, had wrongly imagined that the Kremlin would defend it against its well-armed, energy-rich neighbor. Russia has a military presence, and Armenia is a member of its Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), as well as the Eurasian Economic Union, and has a bilateral aid treaty. Ultimately, it transpired, this narrowed Armenia’s foreign policy options, but not Russia’s. The Kremlin simply washed its hands of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government in its hour of need.
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