(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 8
Trend:
The peacekeeping mission of Russia in the Armenian-populated
part of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region is the opportunity that the
Russian side simply should have used to strengthen its position in
the region and show itself as a true friend and ally of
Azerbaijan.
For this, the Russian side didn't need to do anything special,
just to honestly fulfill its obligations taken under the trilateral
statement of November 10, 2020 [signed by Russian, Azerbaijani and
Armenian leaders following the second Karabakh war].
Nothing more was required from the peacekeepers.
However, everything went wrong. Somehow. The activity, more
precisely, the inactivity of the peacekeepers has become a rather
irritating factor in the attitude of the Azerbaijani society
towards Russia. A year and a half has passed since the second
Karabakh war, and armed Armenian gangs are still roaming in the
zone of responsibility of the peacekeepers, 'election' and
'exercises' are being held, and these gangs continue to shoot at
Azerbaijanis, and all this happens with silence and maybe even
cover-up by the peacekeepers.
Russian Defense Ministry more than once committed provocations,
including strange distorted maps of 'peacekeeping', non-mentioning
of the Armenian separatists' criminal actions in the daily
bulletins, and pedaling the facts taken from Armenian sources, and
on March 7, the Russian Defense Ministry committed another
provocation, to which Baku harshly responded.
How long this can be endured? The Azerbaijani side has a lot of
patience, but it isn't infinite.
On March 7, the Russian Defense Ministry, reporting on the
humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine (which sounds strange in
itself), it mentioned, among others, 14 tons of some kind of
supplies from“Nagorno-Karabakh”. The Defense Ministry of the
country, which signed the declaration on allied cooperation
expressing apparent support to the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, again put into circulation this“Nagorno-Karabakh”
toponym that no longer exists on the territory of the sovereign
Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reacted very harshly, calling
on Russian colleagues 'to stop the practice of referring to the
sovereign territories of Azerbaijan with the names of
administrative-territorial units, which don't exist in
Azerbaijan.'
The information published by the Russian Defense Ministry
contradicts the official Moscow's policy, doesn't take into account
the duties and obligations established by the agreements signed by
this country, and is aimed at irritating some countries having
normal relations with Russia.
It seems that due to a series of failures in Ukraine, the
leaders of the Russian Defense Ministry kind of 'lost it', to put
it mildly. It seems that the ministry no longer knows what to do in
order to somehow improve its reputation. However the path of
provocations isn't the best way to do it.
Maybe in this way it wants to divert attention from the shameful
defeats in Ukraine?
However, one should not expect anything else, if we remember who
is currently heading the peacekeepers and what interests are
involved here. These are not the national interests of Russia at
all, but the 'selfish' interests of the commander of the
peacekeepers, Andrey Volkov, a major general. The peacekeepers even
before him weren't particularly zealous in fulfilling their
duty.
According to the informed sources, General Volkov isn't wasting
any time - he has a small but nice business in the peacekeepers'
responsibility zone. The sources say that he bought or received
vineyards from the Armenian residents of Karabakh in exchange for
protecting their interests. In contrast to the points of the
trilateral statement of 2020, the contingent under his command is
regularly fulfilling these agreements with the separatists.
Moreover, there is evidence that Volkov also feels personal dislike
for Azerbaijanis.
All information from the zone of responsibility of peacekeepers
to the Russian Defense Ministry is sent by the leadership of the
peacekeepers, and the form of reflecting the information in the
bulletins also depends on Volkov. The general doesn't take into
account not only the statements of the President of Azerbaijan, but
also the official position of Russia, repeatedly voiced by its own
leadership. Russia, as follows from all these statements, fully
supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of
Azerbaijan.
This means that the use of the 'Nagorno-Karabakh' name, despite
the fact that such a toponym hasn't existed on the territory of a
sovereign country for a year and a half, means a deliberate
provocation and an attempt to create conflict between Baku and
Moscow.
It isn't clear why Volkov and other 'strategists' need this. Why
do they create tension in the south while their country already has
enough problems? Maybe this is done for allowing Volkov legalize
his vineyards?
In this difficult period, when Russia's situation is worsening
day by day, it needs at least some stability with at least one of
its neighbors. Azerbaijan isn't the country which stabs in the
back. On the contrary, it's trying not to pedal even the negative
moments in the activities of the peacekeepers, but everything has
its limits. The harshness with which Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
responded to the latest provocation should be a signal.
It's impossible to be constantly in tension, to make statements,
or seek refutations. The Azerbaijani side has been doing this for a
year and a half, and information about the supposed humanitarian
aid sent by some non-existent 'Nagorno-Karabakh' is that limit.
By the way, the Ukrainians don't accept help from the Russian
side anyway, and now they should know that these trucks also
contain 14 tons of some accessories sent by separatists who welcome
and recognize the rejection of their Ukrainian territories, and
also they should know those who took part in the murders of
civilians in Ukraine.
Work in the vineyards of General Volkov near Pirlar village of
Azerbaijan's Khojaly district have already begun. Apparently, the
frequent violations of the ceasefire regime from this direction are
connected with this - they are aimed to force the Azerbaijani side
to stay away, however, everything just turns out to happen the
other way around.
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