Russia expresses its ‘readiness’ to provide support as the situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains tense

During a briefing on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Russia was concerned about the increased tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan recently, urging both sides ‘to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that could escalate the situation’.

‘All emerging issues must be resolved exclusively by peaceful, political and diplomatic means’, Zakharova said, adding that Russia ‘advocate[s]’ both sides, at ‘the earliest possible [opportunity] return [...] to the implementation of the set of trilateral agreements at the highest level in 2020-2022’.

Zakharova also said that Russia's commitments to Armenia within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), as well as in a bilateral format, ‘are all in force’.

‘At the same time, Yerevan’s “freezing” of its membership in the CSTO does not contribute to strengthening Armenia's security’, she added.

In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia’s participation in CSTO was ‘basically frozen’ due to the security bloc not fulfilling its security obligations towards Armenia in 2021 and 2022 during the Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia.

On the same evening as Zakharova’s statement, Armenia issued another dismissal of Azerbaijani accusations of ceasefire violations — a 13th dismissal was then issued on Friday afternoon.

At the same time, Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan denied on Friday reports about an Azerbaijani military buildup near the border.

Pashinyan appeals for peace as fears of new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan grow

The new round of tension started to build up shortly after Armenia accepted Azerbaijani latest proposal of peace treaty.

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Papikyan also said that Armenia did not receive any evidence from Azerbaijan supporting their accusations of the ceasefire, despite Armenia’s expressed desire to investigate.

Meanwhile, there have been claims in Armenian media that Azerbaijan opened fire in the direction of Armenia’s Gegharkunik region on Thursday night. The next day, Armenia’s Defence Ministry characterised those reports as ‘information that does not correspond to reality’.

The Defence Ministry claimed that ‘in the event of an intensive, significant violation of the ceasefire’, official statements would be issued.

When asked if Azerbaijan fired at Armenia in the direction of Sotk, Gegharkunik region, Papikyan said that the Defence Ministry always issued statements on ‘all dangerous shots and violations directed at our positions and personnel’.

‘At this moment the combination of the facts and signals required to assess the probability of an attack as high is absent, however, the situation changes quickly, and we are following the situation’, the Director of the Armenian Foreign Intelligence Service, Kristinne Grigoryan, said.

On Thursday, Zakharova reiterated Russia’s welcoming of the progress in the peace process between Baku and Yerevan, calling the completion of negotiations on the text of the peace agreement ‘a significant step towards long-awaited security and prosperity in the South Caucasus’.

She stressed that there were still ‘important issues on the peace agenda that are waiting to be addressed’, naming the unblocking of transport and economic ties, delimitation, and humanitarian issues.

Zakharova also ‘confirm[ed]’ Russia’s readiness to provide support to Azerbaijan and Armenia ‘on all tracks in the form and volume that will be in demand by both parties’, adding that Igor Khovaev, the Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Minister for Assistance to the Normalisation of Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ‘is ready to come to the region to hold relevant consultations’.

The OSCE Minsk Group and claims of US weapons

In her comments on the OSCE Minsk Group, Zakharova said that it was ‘impossible to ensure the resumption of the work’ of the group.

‘There is no connection between the intensification of dialogue between the UK and the US and the topic of the Council’s Minsk Group’.

The Minsk Group was the main venue for negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan prior to the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

On 13 March, after Azerbaijan and Armenia separately announced that negotiations for a peace deal had been concluded, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry named amendments to Armenia’s constitution and the dissolution of the ‘obsolete and dysfunctional’ OSCE Minsk Group as preconditions to signing the deal, thereby complicating the progress made to finally signing the historic deal.

Armenia rejects Azerbaijani preconditions for signing peace treaty

Mirzoyan said that the Azerbaijani preconditions for signing the peace treaty had been ‘raised before’, but Armenia ‘never accepted their legitimacy’.

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‘One could imagine that this could be discussed if the co-chairs somehow maintained contact with the aim of implementing new agreements. And since the two co-chairs have limited the work in this group [...], then what kind of Minsk Group can we talk about?’, Zakharova said.

Zakharova also commented on the recent claims by Russian state-run media outlet RT on the US intention to transfer units of equipment and transport from its bases in Germany to Armenia for drills via the Georgian port of Poti in July.

She said that according to the clarification they received from the Armenian side in response to their request, ‘such an official request from Washington had not been received’ by Armenia.

On Monday, Armenpress reported that the Pentagon has declined to comment on the news. ‘The Department of Defence does not comment on equipment movements for operational security reasons’, a defence official told Armenpress.