The Federation Council agreed to the use of the Russian Armed Forces in a peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh.

This was reported on the website of the upper house of parliament.

"To give consent to the President of the Russian Federation to send a military unit of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the necessary weapons, military and special equipment to Nagorno-Karabakh from November 10, 2020," the resolution of the Federation Council says.

As the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov explained, additional permission from the Federation Council was requested in connection with the duration and scale of the peacekeeping mission.

He recalled that in 2015, the Federation Council adopted a resolution on the use of Russian military personnel abroad, "which was and is the legal basis for the president to make such operational decisions."

“But considering that we have a five-year term (of the peacekeeping mission in Karabakh

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ahead of us

, which can then be extended if necessary, given the scale and responsibility of this mission, additional permission was requested,” Peskov explained.

Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh

The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that the Russian peacekeepers continue to work on round-the-clock monitoring and control over the observance of the ceasefire regime in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There are eleven observation posts in the northern zone of responsibility and twelve in the southern zone.

Changes in the location of posts and areas of responsibility are reflected on the map.

The command post of the Russian contingent of peacekeeping forces has been deployed in Stepanakert, from which the peacekeeping operation is controlled, ”he said at a briefing.

  • RF Ministry of Defense map

Konashenkov stressed that the ceasefire is observed along the entire line of contact.

The patrols of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and military police ensure the safe movement of civilian vehicles along the road through the Lachin corridor to Stepanakert.

“In accordance with the agreements reached in Nagorno-Karabakh, the exchange of bodies of soldiers killed during the conflict continues.

It is carried out under the coordination of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ”added the representative of the department.

In turn, the official information center of Karabakh reported that the authorities of the unrecognized republic are engaged in the transportation of property of residents of nine villages, which come under the control of Azerbaijan.

"These days, with the participation of the authorities, measures are being taken to transport the property of more than 2 thousand residents of the Martakert region, 400 residents of the Askeran region and about 800 households of the Akna settlement, providing the displaced persons with housing and other means," the message on the information center's Facebook page says. ...

  • Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh

The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel that the head of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, was ready to end hostilities in Karabakh in October, but Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rejected this proposal.

The Russian leader noted that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh before the end of the fighting was critical, the count went on for hours.

It should be reminded that on November 10, an agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin came into force on a ceasefire in the conflict zone in Karabakh.

According to the agreements reached, the parties cease hostilities, stop at occupied positions and exchange prisoners.

The agreement also provides for the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the line of contact.

The number of Russian peacekeepers in the region should be 1960.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko clarified that the issue of increasing the number of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh is not currently being discussed.

He explained that their number was determined by the corresponding statement of the three presidents.

Rudenko also expressed hope that the protests taking place in Armenia will not lead to destabilization of the situation in the region and will not threaten the implementation of the points of the agreement.

In addition, it became known that the Ministers of Defense of Armenia and Russia David Tonoyan and Sergei Shoigu discussed the situation in Karabakh by phone and reached an agreement, if necessary, to conclude a trilateral agreement in the humanitarian sphere with the participation of Baku.

“The Armenian Defense Minister thanked his colleague for the quick and effective deployment of the peacekeeping unit, as well as for organizing the process of searching and exchanging the bodies of dead servicemen, prisoners of war, hostages and missing,” the statement says.

In turn, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin said that some Western countries are trying to provoke an escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh again.

According to the service, Naryshkin specified, a number of countries "through the available channels provoke Armenian and Azerbaijani nationalists to break the ceasefire agreement."

He added that the United States and its NATO partners are annoyed that the hostilities were stopped with the mediation of Moscow, which, "in fact, nullified their many years of work to oust Russia from the Caucasus."

“Neither Washington nor“ United Europe ”wants to put up with the existing balance of power in the region. In order to dismantle it, they did not think of anything better than to try again to kindle discord between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Americans and Europeans are not worried that their provocations could lead to new bloodshed and plunge the region into a serious military conflict, ”he said.