"Peacekeepers are a tool in the hands of Russia trying to slow down negotiations"

On March 7, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan  issued a statement saying that military transportation is again being observed on the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu land road, where an armed incident occurred two days ago. The Ministry of Defense stressed that "the technical means of observation recorded another use of this road by the Armenian armed forces and illegal Armenian armed formations, accompanied by the Russian peacekeeping contingent, for military transportation." 

The Armenian Defense Ministry called this information "disinformation".

At the same time, the accusation of the Ministry of Defense against Russian peacekeepers came as a surprise to some observers, because before that, the President of Azerbaijan, at meetings with the President of Russia and other senior officials of the Russian Federation, expressed mostly positive thoughts about the activities of peacekeepers.

Agil Abbas, a member of the Milli Majlis Committee on Defense, Security and Anti-Corruption, told Turan, these issues are probably discussed in the part of the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia that is not open to the press: "But I can't say for sure whether it is or not. There is a Ministry of Defense for this, which has made a statement. It's probably taking action too."

According to the deputy, this road has been used for a long time: "More than once, people who knew Karabakh well, former fighters brought to the attention of the Ministry of Defense that such a road exists."

A member of the committee noted that peacekeepers do not have the ability to control what they transport by car: "Dozens of cars pass through peacekeepers every day. Do they have the ability to control everything that Armenians transport? No. They can also carry weapons either for money or something for their own purposes. In any case, they must comply with the terms of the tripartite declaration, but they do not. If this goes on, it won't end well."

The Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan has not answered the sutuation yet.  However, official Moscow also expressed concern about the aggravation of the situation in Karabakh.

Political commentator Zardusht Alizadeh told Radio "Azadlyg" that the language of diplomacy is designed to sufficiently obscure the facts: "That is, diplomats never express dissatisfaction and do not speak openly. Sometimes they say when they feel enough strength behind them, and sometimes they unnecessarily positively evaluate some event. The translation into simple language of Ilham Aliyev's high assessment of the activities of Russian peacekeepers at the meeting with Putin is that Azerbaijan does not yet have the strength to withdraw peacekeepers from the region."

However, according to the expert, there was indeed a certain merit of the Russian peacekeepers in ending the war, in establishing a ceasefire: "But now the peacekeepers are a harmful tool in the hands of Russia, which is trying to slow down the peace talks. Azerbaijan is aware of this, but its capabilities are not enough to avoid it. At least it takes time. As the year 2025 approaches, Azerbaijan's influence mechanisms will increase."