Russia has started military exercises

Russia has started military exercises today at its base in Armenia. The exercises are devoted to the reconnaissance and search activities of military personnel, the organization of shelters in difficult terrain conditions and navigation.

In early March, Russia also conducted military exercises on the territory of Armenia. Russian gunners took part in exercises at the Alagez high-altitude training ground in Armenia.

All this coincides with the period of dissemination of information about the aggravation of the situation both in Karabakh and on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia. In recent weeks, Azerbaijan has accused Russian peacekeepers of escorting ground military cargo delivered by Armenia to Karabakh. Russia also accuses Azerbaijan of promoting its positions in Karabakh. A similar statement  made representatives of the unrecognized structure in Karabakh. They reported that as a result of the offensive of Azerbaijani forces last Saturday – March 25 - the dirt road between Khankendi and Turshsu was completely closed.

Over the past 200 years, the Caucasus has become an urgent agenda of Russia: "And today it is so. Despite the fact that Russia is involved in the war in all other geographies, it is well aware that its gateway to the Middle East is the Caucasus. Therefore, as long as there is Russian statehood, it will definitely pay special attention to the Caucasus as a special strategic area,"  Hikmet Babaoglu, Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee on Defense, Security and Anti-Corruption.

As for the exercises held in recent days at the Russian military base in Armenia, Babaoglu stressed that there are two sides to this - these exercises, on the one hand, send a message to non-traditional players who want to come to the Caucasus - France and the West; and on the other hand, to Armenia and Azerbaijan that Russia’s military participation  is quite real here, and if some extraordinary event happens in the Caucasus, Russia will have the opportunity to intervene.

According to him, the question of how effective and efficient Russia's dialogue will be at the current stage of the strategic balance of power is the subject of another topic: "In any case, this is a reminder of Russia about itself and a demonstration of itself as a country with real military levers in the Caucasus."

Conducting these exercises in mountainous conditions shows that Russia is considering tactics of full-scale military operations in some mountainous area, political commentator Arastun Orujlu told “Radio Azadlig”.

According to him, after the deployment of the European Union civil mission on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, all local conflicts occur in Nagorno-Karabakh: "Russia itself has built a scenario in order to aggravate the situation in this region, then deploy additional military forces in the region, acting as the savior of the Armenians – as a national minority."

Orujlu believes that Russia's Caucasian agenda is, first of all, not to miss this region: "Russia's geopolitical rivals are trying to oust it from the Caucasus region. The key region of the Caucasus is the South Caucasus. If Russia loses the South Caucasus, it will automatically lose the North Caucasus. Secondly, Russia seeks to achieve two goals in Karabakh: to show itself as a defender of the Armenian population and to involve Azerbaijan in military actions, thus forming an opinion  that Azerbaijan violates all agreements."

According to the political scientist, Azerbaijan should not participate in this scenario of Russia.

It was not possible to get a comment on this statement from the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan. But Russian officials, as a rule, claim that they are interested in establishing peace in the region.