Russia’s upper house approves use of armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh

MOSCOW, Nov 18, 2020, TASS. The Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) has passed a resolution granting consent to the Russian president to dispatch Russian military servicemen to Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10, TASS reported.

“To grant consent to the president of the Russian Federation to send military servicemen the Russian Armed Forces with the necessary weapons, military and special equipment to Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10, 2020, in accordance with the joint statement by the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia and the president of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2020, in order to ensure compliance with the agreements on the cessation of hostilities and other hostile actions from the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides to prevent mass civilian casualties and significant damage to civilian facilities,” reads the resolution approved by the Federation Council on Wednesday.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.