MOSCOW, Nov 9. Russia will deliver 40 tons humanitarian aid for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan in the coming days, said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
«We are assisting Armenia and the Karabakh Armenians in the humanitarian sphere. Through the Russian government, taking into account the needs of the Armenian side, 40 tons of humanitarian aid have been prepared. It will be delivered to Yerevan in the coming days,» Zakharova said at a briefing.
She clarified that the cargo included a mobile power station, which can provide power to dozens of houses in the conditions of the approaching winter.
Nagorno-Karabakh announced its unilateral secession from the Azerbaijan SSR 35 years ago. After the collapse of the USSR and the armed conflict with Azerbaijan (1992-1994), the region existed for many years as an unrecognized republic. In September 2020, fighting resumed in Karabakh. With the mediation of Moscow, on the night of November 10, the parties agreed to cease fire. The Armenian side lost all areas around Nagorno-Karabakh and a number of territories that were part of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region during Soviet times. Russian peacekeepers are stationed in the region. During the entire existence of the unrecognized republic in Karabakh, Armenia did not recognize its sovereignty, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in negotiations with the West, and then at a press conference in Yerevan in May 2023, stated that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan.
Baku On September 19, 2023, after a months-long blockade of Karabakh, it began a military operation there, one of the goals of which was the dissolution of the authorities of the unrecognized republic. A day later, through the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, an agreement on a ceasefire was reached; among the conditions, in particular, the disarmament of the Armenian formations was outlined. Afterwards, several rounds of negotiations between representatives of Karabakh and Baku took place, dedicated to the integration of the region into Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev said that the country had restored its territorial integrity, and the unrecognized authorities of the region announced the “self-dissolution” of the unrecognized republic from January 1, 2024. Starting from September 24 until the end of the month, more than 100 thousand residents left Karabakh for Armenia.