If Russia Cannot Fulfill Its Role as a Peacekeeper, It Must Appeal to the UN – Pashinyan

If our friend and ally Russia cannot fulfill its role as a peacekeeper, it must appeal to the UN itself. This was stated by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the government meeting on March 16.

In this context, the Prime Minister recalled the decision made by the Federation Council of Russia to send a peacekeeping contingent to Nagorno-Karabakh, adopted on November 18. In the letter addressed to the Federation Council, Vladimir Putin emphasized several objectives for sending a peacekeeping force to Nagorno-Karabakh, stating: "In order to maintain the ceasefire agreement and halt all military operations between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides, and to avoid massive casualties among the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and significant threats to civilian facilities, I have decided to send an immediate contingent of troops to Nagorno-Karabakh."

The Federation Council of Russia included the same wording and terminology in the decision from November 18. Thus, Russia officially recorded the likelihood of mass killings of the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh and assumed the role of guarantor of the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and civilian infrastructure.

Pashinyan expressed hope that Russia would fully carry out this function, stating: "But if our friend and ally Russia cannot perform this function for any objective reason, it must appeal to the UN Security Council, alerting the threat of mass killings of the civilian population and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the necessity to launch additional international mechanisms to prevent this in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor."