Putin agreed to withdraw Russian troops stationed in several regions of Armenia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to withdraw Russian military and border police from various parts of Armenia at Yerevan’s request, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency, Reuters reports.

The announcement comes after the departure of nearly 2,000 members of the Russian peacekeeping forces from the separatist region of Karabakh and its surroundings, conquered by Azerbaijan last September. Their withdrawal ended a years-long military deployment that gave Moscow a strategic military position in the South Caucasus region.

Armenia also asked the Russian border police to leave the country’s main airport in Yerevan, starting on August 1, notes Reuters, cited by Agerpres.

Dmitri Peskov said Thursday that Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reached an agreement during a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday regarding a new wave of withdrawals of Russian forces.

“In the fall of 2020, at the request of the Armenian side, our military and border police were deployed in a number of Armenian regions. Pashinian said that today, due to the changed conditions, there is no longer a need for such a presence, so President Putin agreed and the withdrawal of our military and border policemen was agreed upon,” Peskov told Interfax.

The Sputnik Armenia news service quoted a senior Armenian politician from the ruling party as saying that Putin and Pashinian had agreed that Russian forces and border police would withdraw from five Armenian regions.

However, Russian border guards will remain at Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran at Yerevan’s request, Peskov said, quoted by Interfax.

Editor: Liviu Cojan

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