White doves not seen in Karabakh skies despite two-year Russian peacekeeping
Infertile mechanism for peace

ANALYTICS  13 December 2022 - 16:34

Peace is vitally important for our world since its very first days. What a raindrop means for a scorching desert is what peace means to humanity. Safeguarding it is even more vital and not always easy without assistance. Therefore, there are peacekeepers that come out to help keep it unharmed so that peace is shielded against evil intentions.

However, the same mission cannot be attributed to all peacekeepers, including a Russian contingent that has been spearheading, let’s say, peace in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for slightly more than two years.  

Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in certain parts of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region since November 2020, when a 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in a tripartite statement after Azerbaijan’s liberation of its sovereign territories from Armenian occupation.

Under the document, a Russian peacekeeping mission was deployed for five years until 2025. The first mission tasked to the peacekeepers was removing armed Armenian separatists from Karabakh simultaneously with their relocation. However, further developments revealed that they are not adhering to their obligations outlined in the legally binding document.

A member of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region

Over the past two years, shelling of the Azerbaijani Army units in various parts of the liberated lands from the territories temporarily controlled by the Russian peacekeeping mission was common. Despite numerous calls by the Azerbaijani authorities, there were no tangible results on disarmament and ousting of the illegal armed Armenian gangs by the peacekeepers from the perimeter of their zone of responsibility.

Armed Armenian gangs

Shortly after the end of the 2020 war, Azerbaijani troops discovered a group of more than 60 armed Armenians in the liberated lands who had been dispatched from Armenia, mainly its Shirak region, presumably through the Lachin corridor after the end of hostilities. Back then, the Lachin corridor was under the temporary control of the Russian peacekeepers based on the tripartite agreement signed on November 10.

The armed gang members carried out three separate attacks on Azerbaijan’s positions killing four servicemen and a civilian in December 2020 before being detained by the Azerbaijani forces. Another group of armed Armenians was captured during an attempt to infiltrate the Azerbaijani borders on November 16, 2021.

In November 2021, Armenian citizen Norayr Mirzoyan, who was reportedly involved in the 2020 war, threw an RGD-5 anti-personnel fragmentation grenade at the Azerbaijani soldiers stationed next to the Russian peacekeepers along the Lachin corridor near the Shusha city. At least three Azerbaijani servicemen were injured in the terrorist attack. He was then captured by the Russian peacekeepers, who pledged to hand over him for a criminal court trial, however, it was later revealed that he was released shortly after being transported from the scene.

The negligence of the Russian peacekeeping mission paved the way for the next provocative actions by Armenia and the separatists backed by Yerevan within the zone of their temporary responsibility.

In August 2021, the Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan reported that the Armenian military dispatched its personnel to the territories monitored by the peacekeepers. Caliber.Az has then proved the reports of the ministry by releasing exclusive data about the relocation of the Armenian military personnel to the Karabakh region in more than 20 trucks and other carrier vehicles. Furthermore, servicemen disguised in civil clothing have also been dispatched in passenger cars from Armenia to the Azerbaijani territories. We have then confirmed with our sources that the leadership of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh was aware of the illegal relocation and has not been ordering preventive measures.

Misuse of Lachin road

In the meantime, a 5-kilometre-wide Lachin corridor, including the city of Lachin and two surrounding villages, remained in the temporary monitoring zone of the Russian peacekeepers following the 2020 war. The city of Lachin and two surrounding villages were due to return to Azerbaijan’s control after a new highway came into operation, connecting ethnic Armenians settled in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region with Armenia.

During their stay in Lachin, the peacekeepers from Russia were personally involved in activities that they had to prevent. So, in July 2022, again based on exclusive data from our sources, we unearthed the looting of a house in Lachin by these “guardians of peace”. They were seen in a video demounting the roof of a residential building, loading it into a Russia-made KAMAZ truck steering under a Russian flag accompanied by the “Peacekeeping Forces” inscription.

The “adventures” of the Russo peacekeepers in Lachin ended in August of this year when Azerbaijan completed the construction of the all-new road and eventually put it into operation to replace the traditional Lachin corridor. Following the launch of the new route, Azerbaijan reclaimed control over the city of Lachin and two surrounding villages to ultimately restore its sovereignty over the entire Lachin district.

However, numerous reports have surfaced about illegal shipments and visitors passing through the Lachin highway, which are meant to be prevented by the Russian peacekeepers.

The new Lachin road which was built and put into operation by Azerbaijan in August 2022

In early November 2022, they were confirmed to organize the transfer of weapons to the Armenian separatists deployed in their temporary monitoring zone in Karabakh disguised as “peacekeeping humanitarian aid." The illegal shipment included anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines, automatic small arms, including easel machine guns, sniper rifles, 122mm mortars, ATGM (anti-tank guided missile) “Fagot” (10 units), ATGM “Cornet” (10 units), grenade launchers, portable communication devices, and ammunition.

The peacekeepers have reportedly delivered weapons and ammunition from the Russian 102nd military base located in the Armenian city of Gyumri via the new Lachin-Shusha-Khankendi highway connecting Armenia to Azerbaijan's Karabakh region. Moreover, some types of weapons handed over to the Armenian separatists were reserved from Iran and Syria.

Later in November of this year, the Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan revealed that the mining of the Azerbaijani territories temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeeping mission has been heavily mined by the armed Armenian separatists post-2020-war. A total of 1,609 anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines of Armenian production have been planted in the Karabakh Economic Region, according to the ministry. Azerbaijani authorities accused Armenia of using the new Lachin road for military purposes despite the monitoring by the Russian peacekeeper troops.

When the peacekeepers were still on a hot seat due to their infertile mission in Karabakh, new facts surfaced to again raise eyebrows over their service. The Baku-based news service Qafqazinfo published data in early December about the illegal visitors from Iran to Karabakh. They passed through the checkpoint installed by the Russian peacekeeping mission in the Karabakh (Garabagh) region of Azerbaijan on November 24, according to the news outlet.

A Mercedes-Benz car with a license number “34-QA-444” carried about 14 people from Iran to the Karabakh region, 12 of which were from the country’s southwestern city of Izhe in the Khuzestan region, which is known for its ethnic diversity and inhabited by many different ethnic minorities, including Armenians and is home to a secret centre of the Iranian special services.

Later in December, 13 more citizens of the Islamic Republic were found to arrive in Karabakh. The new Lachin road built and put into operation by Azerbaijan was used for these illegal transfers.

Armed peacekeepers vs peaceful eco-activists

The calls by the Azerbaijani authorities for more efficient control over the Lachin highway by the Russian peacekeeping contingent gained momentum over the recent days. The demands came on the heels of the illegal transportation of minerals from the Azerbaijani territories temporarily monitored by the peacekeepers to Armenia via the Lachin road. Caliber.Az reported that eight Kamaz trucks accompanied by a Nissan Patrol SUV with an Armenian license number 731 - AB - 61 ER, made their way from the Khankendi city of Azerbaijan to Armenia between November 10 and November 14. Moreover, on November 16-18, identical vehicles were seen along the Lachin road from Armenia to Khankendi.

According to operational data, raw materials extracted at the gold mines near the village of Gulyatagh of the former Aghdara (current Tartar) region of Azerbaijan, located in the zone of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, have been transported on these Kamaz trucks. The materials were moved by the Base Metals company, a subsidiary of Vallex Group Company based in Switzerland, which engaged in the looting of precious metals in Kalbajar, Zangilan and Aghdara during the occupation and currently in the area where Russian peacekeepers are stationed.

Following the incident, on December 3, 2022, the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Azerbaijan dispatched a group of experts to the Lachin highway to monitor the situation on the ground and demand that Russian peacekeepers stop illegal shipments via the highway. Hours-long talks between the sides at the headquarters of the peacekeeping command in Khankendi ended on December 4 with an agreement permitting a group of experts from Azerbaijan to investigate and monitor the illegal exploitation of minerals in the Azerbaijani territories and ecological consequences of these activities.

However, the experts were not allowed to start the monitoring process on December 10 after they were blocked by ethnic Armenians living in the parts of the Karabakh region temporarily overseen by the peacekeepers. Despite the scandal, the peacekeepers did not take any preventive measures to urge Armenians to stop their illegal intervention, as a result, the ecological monitoring by the Azerbaijani experts was suspended.

On December 12, ecological activists and NGO members from Azerbaijan flocked to the Lachin-Shusha-Khankendi road to stage protests. They installed tents near the city of Shusha on the highway to demand the peacekeeping mission’s commander General Andrei Volkov come out and explain why peacekeepers could not prevent ecological crimes. The protest continued overnight into December 13 as Volkov refused to meet with the activists.

Meanwhile, the protesters and reporters sent to cover the events faced harsh treatment by the armed Russian peacekeepers, who are now allowed to take any action against peaceful civilians. However, they damaged a car of an Azerbaijani news service, attempted to demolish tents, blocked the journalists from covering the events, and called for additional equipment and personnel.

Russian peacekeepers try to block an Azerbaijani journalist from covering the meeting between Azerbaijani experts and the peacekeeping command in Karabakh

Note that the same measures were not taken to block ethnic Armenians from hindering the conduct of ecological monitoring by the Azerbaijani experts just two days before.

Unfortunately, our online searches did not dig out information about the positive impact of the Russian peacekeepers on the efforts aimed at achieving lasting peace in Karabakh. So, in this light, a big question remains open: are they really effective in safeguarding peace?

Caliber.Az