The Russian peacekeeping troops in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) responded to the accusations of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan as to why the troops “use Armenian toponyms.” It is stated in the statement of the Russian peacekeepers.
“The armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno-Karabakh use the locations defined by the topographical maps of the Russian Armed Forces during their training and combat missions. Baku’s criticism of the name of the Maghavuz settlement is surprising, because earlier and many times, other non-Azerbaijani place names were used in the bulletins of the Ministry of Defense of Russia in the context of ensuring the escort of convoys of Azerbaijani citizens through the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, it did not lead to complaints in the information arena. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side also uses these toponyms when coordinating the movement route of the convoys and organizing cooperation with the Russian peacekeepers.
The activity of the Russian peacekeeping troops is regulated by the trilateral statement of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia on November 10, 2020 and is aimed at monitoring the maintenance of the ceasefire regime, and during various meetings, Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly praised the effectiveness of this activity.
Peacekeeping observation posts using objective surveillance techniques that allow observations to be made at any time of the day record ceasefire violations published in the official bulletins of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It would be better if the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan did not question the activities of the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno-Karabakh on such minor occasions, and continued the work aimed at maintaining peace in the region in close cooperation with it, including on the ground.”
