The step, confirmed by the Kremlin and Azerbaijan on Wednesday, comes as Russia faces pressure in the wider region with
neighboring Armenia demanding Russian border guards leave its main airport and
protesters in Georgia confronting what they say is a Russia-leaning government.
Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, was cited by state news agency Azertac confirming that a withdrawal deal had been reached.
“The early withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers, temporarily stationed in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in accordance with the trilateral Statement signed on November 10, 2020, has been decided by the leaders of both countries,” Hajiyev said.
“The process has already begun, with the ministries of defense of Azerbaijan and Russia implementing appropriate measures for the execution of that decision,” he further added.
When asked about Azerbaijani media reports of a Russian withdrawal from Karabakh and areas nearby, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“Yes, it really is the case.” He did not further elaborate on the subject.
An unverified video of Russian armored personnel carriers purportedly driving towards Dagestan in southern Russia was posted on social media in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
Nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops were deployed to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020 under a Moscow-brokered deal that halted six weeks of fighting between Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces.
Despite the deployment,
Azerbaijan retook Karabakh by force in September last year in a move which triggered an
exodus of 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there and the arrest of the breakaway area’s ethnic Armenian leaders.
Armenia’s political leadership accused Moscow at the time of failing to protect Armenian interests, a charge Russia rejected.
The peacekeepers had originally been due to stay until 2025.
