Armenia PM agrees to Karabakh truce to avoid ‘full collapse’

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he agreed to a Russian-brokered peace deal with Azerbaijan to avoid further losses in the disputed Karabakh region, adding that the continuation of fighting would have resulted in “full collapse.”

“The document secured what we could lose, according to military estimates and other assessments,” Pashinyan said on Tuesday. “In a situation when Stepanakert became unprotected, there was a big chance of losing [the main city of] Stepanakert, Martuni, and Askeran if the fighting continued; after that, the defended areas and thousands of soldiers would be surrounded.”

“This would result in a full collapse, and the decision [to sign the ceasefire agreement] was made taking exactly these estimates into consideration,” he added.

Armenia agreed to cease fire with Azerbaijan in Karabakh on Monday, in the face of advancing Azeri troops.

The separatist government of Karabakh said on Monday it had lost control of the mountainous enclave’s second-largest city of Shusha and that Azerbaijani forces were closing in on Stepanakert.

Armenia made two attempts to regain control over Shusha, Pashinyan recalled.

“One of the attempts failed. In the second case, an Armenian unit managed to get into the city, and differences in opinions on Shusha’s control were related exactly to the activities of this unit,” he said.

The Russian-brokered ceasefire came into effect overnight on Monday. An exchange of prisoners of war was also scheduled.

Azerbaijan and Armenia had been fighting over Karabakh since September 27.

Russian aircraft carrying peacekeeping forces land in Armenia

Separately on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that 20 Il-76 aircraft with Russian peacekeepers had landed in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Russia had earlier announced that it would be sending peacekeeping forces to Karabakh to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

“To carry out the deployment, equipment and weapons have undergone maintenance and an appraisal of technical readiness to move in mountainous areas. After coordinating the routes, Russian peacekeepers will start marching to areas where peacekeeping missions are to be carried out,” the ministry said.

Altogether, 400 military personnel of the 15th Peacekeeping Brigade were deployed with armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles, and communications equipment.

Under the terms of the peace deal, 1,960 Russian troops will replace Armenian forces in Karabakh.

SS