MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin has agreed to withdraw Russian soldiers and border guards from several regions of Armenia, the Russian president’s spokesman was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Thursday.
This announcement follows the departure of nearly 2,000 Russian “blue helmets” from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its surroundings, which Azerbaijan retook by force last September. Their departure puts an end to several years of presence there, which allowed Moscow to establish itself militarily in this strategic region of the South Caucasus.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reached an agreement on a further withdrawal of Russian troops during a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday. .
“In the fall of 2020, at the request of Armenia, our military and border guards were deployed to a number of Armenian regions. Nikol Pashinyan said that at present, due to the As the situation evolved, this was no longer necessary, so President Putin agreed and the withdrawal of our military and border guards was decided,” Dmitry Peskov told Interfax.
The Sputnik Armenia news site cited a senior official from Armenia’s ruling party as saying that the Russian and Armenian leaders had agreed on the withdrawal of Russian forces and border guards from five Armenian regions.
Russian border guards will, however, remain deployed on Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran, at the request of Yerevan, according to Interfax.
(Reuters Bureau, written by Andrew Osborn, French version Alban Kacher, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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