[ad_1]
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on Saturday to strengthen military cooperation with Russia, following the military defeat of his country in the conflict over the Nagorno Karabakh region against Azerbaijan.
“We look forward to strengthening cooperation with Russia, not only in the field of security, but also in the military and technical fields,” Pashinyan said during a meeting in Yerevan with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, according to his media office. .
He added: “Of course there were difficult moments in the war, but the situation today is much more difficult.”
On November 9, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 9, after six weeks of violent battles in this unilaterally proclaimed republic, enshrining field victories for Azerbaijan. Under the agreement, the latter will recover areas that were outside of its control for three decades.
This agreement, which provides for the deployment of about two thousand Russian blue helmets in Nagorno Karabakh, enshrines the defeat of Armenia, but allows the preservation of the mountainous separatist region that Baku and Yerevan have disputed for decades.
“For us, the main thing is to avoid bloodshed,” said Shoigu, who traveled to the Armenian capital on Saturday accompanied by a large Russian delegation, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
This visit comes a day after Azerbaijan regained control of the Agdam region, which was ceded by the Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh under the peace agreement.
This region is part of the security shield that separatists have formed around the region.
Agdam is the first of the three regions to be handed over to Azerbaijan after Armenian forces took it thirty years ago at the end of the war that took place in the nineties of the last century, which left 30 thousand dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
In Armenia, the agreement to end hostilities continues to enrage part of the opposition, which accuses Nikole Pashinyan of “treason” and demands his resignation. The latter refuses to leave office, but on Friday he changed two ministers, including Defense, a few days after the removal of the foreign minister.
Source: event
[ad_2]
