“Emmanuel Macron’s statements that Russia would use the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh to destabilize the South Caucasus are appalling and absolutely unacceptable,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, the day after the interview. head of state on France 2.
Russia on Thursday castigated the “unacceptable” remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron who accused Moscow of carrying out a “destabilize” of the Caucasus against the backdrop of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan around the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh. “Emmanuel Macron’s statements that Russia would use the Nagorny Karabakh conflict to destabilize the South Caucasus are appalling and absolutely unacceptable,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On Wednesday, during an interview on the France 2 channel, the French president said: “Russia interfered in this conflict, it obviously played the game of Azerbaijan with Turkish complicity and it came back there to weaken Armenia”. “It is a destabilizing maneuver by Russia which, in the Caucasus, seeks to create disorder to weaken and divide us all,” he said.
Remarks described as “absurd” by Russia
In the eyes of Russian diplomacy, these “absurd remarks by the French president prove that Paris has no interest in establishing a lasting peace in the region and cast doubt on his country’s ability to play a constructive role there”. “Unlike France (…) Russia has contributed in a practical way to the settlement of the conflict”, underlines the ministry.
Armenia, an ally of Russia, and Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, have clashed in two wars over the past three decades for control of Nagorny Karabakh. The 2020 conflict ended with a ceasefire and mediation by Russia, which deployed a contingent of peacekeepers there. In September, at least 286 people were killed in fresh clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.