Baku (AFP) – When Russian troops deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh four years ago, their task was clear: keep the peace between bitter foes Armenia and Azerbaijan and prevent another war in the volatile region.

But as Azerbaijani forces swept through mountainous Karabakh last September and crushed Armenian separatist forces in a matter of hours, the Russian mission looked lost.

The Kremlin this week quietly confirmed that the peacekeepers were withdrawing, taking with them their weapons and hardware, as well as Russian clout from a region it long considered its own backyard.

“We are witnessing a historic process – Russians are leaving for the first time in two centuries,” independent Azerbaijani analyst Elhan Shahinoglu told AFP.

[…]

“Russia has once again betrayed the Armenian people and sold us out. That’s it,” said Valery Harutyunyan, who lived in Karabakh before fleeing to Armenia in September.

“We can’t rely on the Russians again. It’s impossible. We should kick Russians out – not only from Karabakh – but also from Armenia,” he told AFP.

  • Flying SquidMEnglish
    23•7 months ago

    Nagorno-Karabakh has been fought over between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 1994. I have a documentary about the conflict I downloaded so long ago that it’s burned on a CD-R in AVI format. I would guess that’s longer than a huge percentage, if not a majority of the population of both countries have been alive.

    • rhythmisaprancer
      4•7 months ago

      Hasn’t that been a disputed zone for even longer? I don’t really know the history but it seems like a rough draw for Armenians. I read recently that their sphere of influence may be drifting away from Russia, but towards whom?

      • Flying SquidMEnglish
        1•7 months ago

        Before that, it was part of the USSR.

        • @[email protected]English
          3•7 months ago

          isn’t az already in that niche? They’re a satellite of turkey which is a NATO member

          • @[email protected]English
            4•7 months ago

            If by Az you mean Azerbaijan, the question was about Armenia, which was historical a Russian ally. Azerbaijan is indeed very close to Turkey.

          • rhythmisaprancer
            2•7 months ago

            NATO is just an alliance, not all of the countries involved agree on everything. I’m not sure how Turkiye feels about Azerbaijan vs Armenia but they got Finland and Sweden figured out.

            • @[email protected]English
              3•7 months ago

              Yes and it’s fucked up that wannabe dictator erdogan was able to use NATO accession to force Sweden to hand over Kurdish “terrorist” activists they were sheltering. As an American our support for the kurds is one of the few military involvements I am sort of proud of

              Same for Azerbaijan, aliyev is a dictator who will keep attacking Armenia to “defend azeri enclaves stranded in hostile territory”, but in reality he just thinks he deserves the whole thing because armenia is not a real nation and would be better off run by Azerbaijan. Just like Hitler with his volksdeutch and Putin with his persecuted Russian minorities in the near abroad. To quote the mayor of baku during a visit to Germany, ‘‘Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.’’ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg43066/pdf/CHRG-110hhrg43066.pdf

              The only reason Armenia allied with Russia is because the EU was horny for energy trade with Azerbaijan and armenia had nowhere else to go, they have a somewhat uniquely unfortunate geopolitical situation. However Putin just kinda hates democracy so he started slowly withdrawing support after the Armenian revolution

              Meanwhile turko-azeri relations are about the friendliest you can get without actually merging :) they both really love genociding armenians what can I say.