Published 14:43 IST, October 31st 2020
Armenia PM asks Russia's Putin to 'launch immediate consultations' on providing security
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan has officially sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to begin “urgent” consultations on security he can give
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has officially sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to begin “urgent” consultations on the “type and scale” of assistance Moscow can provide to the Armenian Republic. As per the statement published by the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, Pashinyan in his letter has not only detailed the situation in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, but also listed the challenges caused by the Azerbaijani-Turkish military alliance. His desperate attempt at getting Russian support comes after the failure of a third, US-brokered, treaty with Azerbaijan.
As per the statement, Armenian PM asked Putin to “launch immediate consultations to define the type and the scale of assistance which the Russian Federation can provide to the Republic of Armenia for ensuring its security, based on the allied relations between Armenia and Russia and the Article 2 of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of August 29, 1997.”
'Terrorists from the Middle East'
Russia has a military base in Armenia and has a defence treaty with Yerevan. While the Armenian leader invoked the 1997 treaty, Russia asserted that its defence pact with Armenia does not extend to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, Pashinyan stressed that it needed Russian interference especially because of “foreign terrorists”
"The fact of transferring foreign terrorist fighters from the Middle East to Nagorno-Karabakh and involving them in the military hostilities was particularly stressed in the letter", the ministry said.
His letter comes just a day after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian peacekeepers can only enter Karabakh if both Armenia and Azerbaijan give their consent. In a bid to resolve the Caucasus conflict, Pashityan had, last week, urged Moscow, Washington and Paris to deploy forces in the region. However, Pescov denied the possibility saying that consent of both parties was needed. More than 1,200 people from both sides have been reported dead since the fighting began earlier on September 27, but the actual death toll is believed to be substantially higher with Putin claiming it be over 50,000.
Updated 14:43 IST, October 31st 2020