Russian delegation to visit Armenia to discuss withdrawal of peacekeepers from Azerbaijan's Karabakh

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia on Friday said a Defense Ministry delegation will visit Armenia to discuss the withdrawal of its peacekeepers from Azerbaijan's Karabakh region.

"A delegation of the Russian Defense Ministry will visit Yerevan today. At the meeting with the Armenian side, the specific timing of the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping contingent from Nagorno-Karabakh will be discussed," Russian state news agency TASS said citing a diplomatic source.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh is deployed in the region on the basis of a cease-fire agreement signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on Nov. 9, 2020.

The forces were deployed for five years, with an automatic extension for another five-year period if none of the parties objected.

Russia on Thursday said it started pulling out peacekeepers from Karabakh, with President Vladimir Putin saying the forces were only mandated to monitor the compliance of the cease-fire.

Baku had raised the question of presence of the peacekeeping units after Armenia's recognition of Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory this summer, he added.