Why didn’t Shoygu express condolences for the murder of an Armenian in Artsakh? Why didn’t Russian Ambassador to Armenia Kopirkin visit Yerablur on September 27?
On October 12, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan paid a short working visit to Moscow, where he met with the Russian President. This was the fourth Pashinyan-Putin meeting this year. Prior to the meeting, the Kremlin issued a short statement saying that Putin and Pashinyan would discuss the implementation of the November 9 and January 11 trilateral statements, as well as further steps to strengthen stability and establish economic ties in the region. The Russian President noted that the most important issue of the meeting is the settlement of the situation in the region in the long run. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unresolved, Pashinyan said, adding that Russia plays a key role in resolving the conflict and ensuring security in our region, being a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.
They did not reveal other details. The meeting continued behind closed doors. A day before the Pashinyan-Putin meeting, Armenian and Russian Defense Ministers Arshak Karapetyan and Sergey Shoygu met in Moscow. Neither Armenian nor Russian defense agencies provided details of the meeting.
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The regular Pashinyan-Putin talks were held against the background of the new tension in the South Caucasus and certain tense Iranian-Azerbaijani relations. And a crime took place in Nagorno Karabakh, with which Azerbaijan is consistently trying to prove the “poor quality” of the Russian peacekeeping mission, and the pain is that the Russian side is not able to get out of the trap set by the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem. Aram Tepnants, a 55-year-old resident of Martakert, was shot by a sniper in the pomegranate garden near Martakert.
A Russian peacekeeper was also in the tractor that came under fire next to the citizen killed at the time of the incident to ensure the safety of Tepnants. A day later, the RF Ministry of Defense finally responded, confirming the murder of a civilian in the city of Martakert. “The command of the Russian contingent is investigating the incident with the participation of representatives of both sides.” First, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not record that the incident took place in front of the Russian peacekeeper, and what does it mean “they are studying the case,” or the incident is being investigated “with the participation of representatives of both sides.”
And in general, why does the Russian Ministry of Defense not condemn Baku’s terrorist act and why did they not sympathize with the murder of the Armenian? However, if we take into account the fact that the Russian side even in several cases of Russian helicopters being shot down by Turkey and Azerbaijan was satisfied with accepting condolences from the attackers, expressing readiness to retaliate and continuing to push the “tomato-caviar” policy, we can assume that the murder of an Armenian, even in the presence of a Russian peacekeeper, is not a big loss for Moscow. The only problem is that Moscow has fallen into a tense Turkish-Azerbaijani trap, but even in this case it is not clear whether this is a problem for the Russian ruling elite or not.
The obvious fact is that the whole world, having in mind the example of Armenia, now asks and answers its own question about what a strategic ally should not be and what a state carrying out a peacekeeping mission should not be, although that was Moscow’s long-held dream and goal.
In fact, this is how Baku and Ankara will decide the “fate” of the Russian peacekeeping mission, making it clear to the whole world, “what kind of peacekeeping mission is this?” Baku will not confirm the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping mission, it is working to prove the ineffectiveness of that mission and, unfortunately, they are succeeding so far. And the rest, as they say, is up to the Russians.
And by the way, why didn’t Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin visit Yerablur on the anniversary of the 44-day war? At the end of the day on September 27, only the Russian Embassy in Armenia mentioned that a minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims of the hostilities that began a year ago, noting, “It was emphasized that Russia attaches special importance to the fact that the Armenian population overcomes the stress caused by the war as soon as possible, feels safe, and gains confidence in the future.”
Especially after the horrific incident in the Martakert region on October 9, the Russian side may ask the people of Artsakh how “safe” they now feel in the presence of Russian peacekeepers.
Emma Gabrielyan
