Russia said on Wednesday that it is discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of the safe return of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive.
Azerbaijan launched the offensive despite a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Armenia has denounced Russian peacekeepers for their failure to prevent or stop the September 19-20 assault that restored Baku’s full control over Karabakh and forced the region’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have rejected the criticism.
“Moscow and Baku are discussing prospects for the return of the Armenian population to Karabakh,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told a news briefing in Moscow.
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Zakharova gave no details of those discussions. She stressed the importance of “ensuring the rights and security” of Karabakh Armenians willing to return to their homeland. Earlier this week, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin similarly called for “creating conditions” for their repatriation.
“We are ready to provide necessary support to that process, including through Russian peacekeeping troops whose presence is of great importance,” Galuzin told the official TASS news agency.
Even before their exodus, Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents made clear that they would not live under Azerbaijani rule. None of the more than 100,000 Karabakh refugees are known to have expressed a desire to return home in the current circumstances.
Last month, Karabakh’s main political factions exiled in Armenia set up a political committee to campaign for their “collective repatriation.” The committee is headed by Vartan Oskanian, a former Armenian foreign minister
Oskanian said earlier this month that Armenia should seek “international guarantees” for the repatriation and raise the matter during peace talks with Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly indicated, however, that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s special envoy on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Igor Khovayev, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not mention the possible repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians in its readout of the meeting.
The ministry cited Bayramov as blaming Armenia for Tuesday’s fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left four Armenian soldiers dead. He accused Yerevan of undermining the negotiation process.
Pashinian charged on Tuesday that the ceasefire violation shows that Baku lacks the political will to negotiate a peace treaty with Yerevan and is intent on heightening tensions along the border.
