Russia begins withdrawing peacekeeping forces from Karabakh, now under full Azerbaijan control

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Wednesday that Russian forces are being withdrawn from Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, where they have been stationed as peacekeepers since the end of a war in 2020.

In a conference call with journalists, Dmitry Peskov confirmed reports of the withdrawal but did not give further details.

The Karabakh region had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia’s military since 1994. But Azerbaijan took control of sizeable parts of the region in a six-week war in 2020.

That war ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire that called for placing about 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the parts of Karabakh that were still held by Armenians. The forces’ duties were to include ensuring free passage on the sole road connecting Karabakh with Armenia.

But Azerbaijan began blocking the road in late 2022, alleging Armenians were using it for weapons shipments and to smuggle minerals, and the Russian forces did not intervene.