MOSCOW, June 17 Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Eduard Vartanyan dedicated the victory in the Grand Prix of the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) league to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
On Friday, the athlete at the ACA 159 tournament in Sochi defeated the representative of Kazakhstan Artem Reznikov (technical knockout in the third round). The winner of the Grand Prix will receive a million dollars.
«I want to dedicate my victory to 120,000 Armenians currently under blockade in Artsakh,» he said in the octagon.
In the fall of 2020, hostilities resumed in Nagorno-Karabakh. The parties made several attempts to conclude a truce. On November 10, 2020, through the mediation of Moscow, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to a complete ceasefire and exchange of prisoners and bodies of the dead. Yerevan handed over to Baku the Kelbajar and Lachin regions, as well as part of the Aghdam region, which since 1994 have been under the control of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In addition, Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the region.
In 2022, Yerevan and Baku, with the mediation of Russia, the United States and the European Union, began discussing a future peace treaty. In May 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the territories of Azerbaijan, which Yerevan is ready to recognize, also include the territory of Karabakh. Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev said that a peace treaty could be signed in the near future if Yerevan does not change its position.