Russian Peacekeepers Complete Withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabak

Russian peacekeepers on Wednesday completed their withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Baku recaptured last year from Armenian separatists, officials in Baku said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia had fought two wars — first from 1988 to 1994 and then again in 2020 — for control of the then-breakaway enclave, MKosscow Times reports.

“The process of the full withdrawal of the manpower, weapons, and equipment of Russia’s peacekeeping contingent [in Karabakh] from Azerbaijan was completed on June 12,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers had been stationed in Karabakh, in accordance with a ceasefire agreement between Yerevan and Baku, signed in November 2020. The Russian troops had a mandate to remain until 2025, but Moscow’s war in Ukraine is putting pressure on the country’s armed forces.

The withdrawal, which began in April, had been agreed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.