Who benefits from discrediting the Russian contingent in Karabakh
In recent days, a number of materials critical of Russian peacekeepers have appeared on many information resources. The most ridiculous is the report that the Russian Defense Ministry allegedly transferred Syrian citizens from the Khmeimim air base to Yerevan to participate in military operations against Azerbaijan. The source of the fake was the non-governmental organization "Syrians for Truth and Justice", created with the support of the US State Department, affiliated with the "White Helmets".
It seems that the Western sponsors of this NGO needed the information about Russia's actions in order to try to compromise Russia's mediating role in ending the armed conflict in Karabakh by exposing our country as a participant in the confrontation.
The number of "Syrian fighters" allegedly transferred by the Russians to Armenia is ridiculous-39 people. As evidence, the data of the website "Flight Radar" on flights to Yerevan of regular civilian flights from Beirut and Damascus are presented. At the same time, the statement about the flights of military aircraft from Khmeimim to Yerevan is not confirmed by the data of this search engine.
Nor does the information of Canadian journalist Neil Hauer, who works with the American CNN and the British Guardian, that Russia is going to distribute passports to residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, correspond to reality. Issuing a Russian passport means granting citizenship. The fact that such a procedure can not be fast and simple, especially for residents of the unrecognized republic, is easy to guess. Such fakes can only be replicated for the same purpose – to expose Russia as an interested participant in the conflict, supporting Armenia.
It is also obvious which foreign policy force may be directly interested in discrediting Russia as an objective arbiter in the settlement of the conflict in Karabakh. This is Turkey, which seeks to make its military personnel full-fledged participants in a peacekeeping operation. But Ankara has so unequivocally sided with Azerbaijan in the course of military operations that it is impossible to count on its ability to take into account the interests of the Armenian side. While Russia is friendly to both Baku and Yerevan. Moscow has relations with Armenia within the framework of the CSTO. However, Russia did not provide any military assistance to the Armenian side, in addition to the supply of weapons and equipment in accordance with previously concluded contracts, since the conflict on the territory of Karabakh does not fall within the scope of our country's obligations under the CSTO.
The Russian Federation has always stood firmly on the positions of international law and, unlike Turkey, was one of the initiators of the creation of the so-called Minsk Group on Karabakh. Russia was the only one of the three guarantor countries of this format who was able to stop the bloodshed. The main concern of the Russian leadership at the moment is to ensure the ceasefire and the settlement of the conflict, taking into account the interests of both the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations. Naturally, for the Armenian side, Russia is the only force capable of ensuring security after a military defeat. Therefore, it is not that Russian peacekeepers support the Armenians, but that they help the local population to restore peaceful life in anticipation of further determination of the status of the territories inhabited by Armenians in Karabakh.
The arguments of a number of authors on the topic of abuse of the peacekeeping contingent by its mandate and some illegal expansion of its area of responsibility by peacekeepers are biased. Such publications can be regarded as unauthorized attempts to put pressure on the Russian leadership. The background for them was the incident in the area of the settlements of Khtsabert and Khintaglar in the Hadrut region, where clashes between Azerbaijani servicemen and Karabakh militias took place from December 11 to 12. As of November 10, 2020, the positions occupied by the Armenians in this area were in the rear of the Azerbaijani troops and according to the trilateral agreement of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia had to be abandoned. The conflict occurred due to the refusal of the Karabakh units to do this. Russian peacekeepers managed to separate the sides and organize the evacuation of the Armenian detachment. This was confirmed in their statements by both the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the Military Department of Azerbaijan.
As we can see, the process of post-conflict settlement is very difficult. Attempts to interpret the actions of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the interests of a third party will not lead to positive results.
Vasily Ushakov
The newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier", published in issue No. 50 (863) for December 29, 2020
