Maria Zakharova, the Official Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, responded to the statement of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Russian peacekeepers should leave Artsakh in 2025 and that this is stipulated by the Moscow-Yerevan-Baku tripartite document.

Zakharova reminded that Ankara is not a party to the tripartite statement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan of 9 November, 2020.

“On the basis of this document, the Russian peacekeeping troops were deployed in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. It is in that document that the terms of deployment of the military personnel are clearly presented, as well as the parameters of a possible five-year extension. Let me remind that Russian peacekeepers continue to play an important stabilizing role in Nagorno-Karabakh. The main function is to maintain the regime of cessation of fire and hostilities, taking into account the tense situation in the region,” Zakharova said.

She added that establishing peace in the South Caucasus corresponds not only to the interests of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also to Turkey. She also mentioned the systematic work of the joint Russian-Turkish observation center in the occupied Akna region of Artsakh.

Let’s remind that Erdogan announced that in 2025 the Russian peacekeepers should leave the “Karabakh region of Azerbaijan”. “Russia must leave that territory in 2025. That is what is written in the agreement, and I believe that Russia will fulfill that demand.”