Tue 10 November 2020:
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia have signed an agreement to end six weeks of fierce fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
While Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described the development as “unspeakably painful” in an emotional Facebook post, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev celebrated, tweeting: “This is a historic day, An end is being put to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
The deal came after Armenia lost control of a strategic city in Nagorno-Karabakh known as Shusha to Azerbaijan and Shushi to Armenians, and after the accidental downing of a Russian plane by Azeri forces.
Under the agreement, Russian peacekeepers will be deployed along the front line in Nagorno-Karabakh and the corridor between the region and Armenia. Aliyev said Turkey will also take part in the peace-keeping process.
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he hopes for a lasting peace for both Azerbaijani and Armenian people.
“I hope these last steps we have taken will ensure long-term peace for the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Putin said, speaking at a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Describing the events in Nagorno-Karabakh as “tragedy”, Putin said: “I would like to express with great pleasure that we have reached agreements to stop the bloodshed.”
Relations between the two former Soviet republics over Upper Karabakh have remained tense since 1991, but fresh clashes broke out on Sept. 27.
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