Armenia, Azerbaijan Negotiate Another Ceasefire

“We don’t see military intervention as the only possibility, because there are also political and diplomatic options,” Pashinyan said, speaking in his nation’s parliament.

He told legislators that Armenia is ready to recognise Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in a future peace treaty, provided that it relinquishes control of areas in Armenia its forces have seized.

Balancing Act for Russia

Some in the opposition saw the statement as a sign of Pashinyan’s readiness to cave in to Azerbaijani demands and recognise Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of angry protesters descended on the government’s headquarters, accusing Pashinyan of treason and demanding he step down.

Pashinyan, who said that Azeri forces had occupied 10sq km (4 sq miles) of Armenia’s territory since the fighting began this week, denied reports alleging he had signed a deal accepting Azerbaijani demands as “informational sabotage directed by unfriendly forces”.

Moscow is involved in a delicate balancing act as it tries to maintain friendly ties with both nations, which were once part of the Soviet Union.

It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, but also maintains close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

Some observers saw the outbreak of fighting as an attempt by Azerbaijan to force Armenian authorities into faster implementation of some of the provisions of the 2020 peace deal, such as the opening of transport corridors via its territory.

“Azerbaijan has bigger military potential, and so it tries to dictate its conditions to Armenia and use force to push for diplomatic decisions it wants,” Sergei Markedonov, a Russian expert on the South Caucasus region, wrote in a commentary.

Markedonov noted that the current fighting coincided with Russia’s withdrawal from tracts of northeastern Ukraine after a Ukrainian counteroffensive, adding that Armenia’s request for assistance left Russia in a precarious position.

Putin and leaders of other CSTO members discussed the situation in a call late on Tuesday and agreed to send a mission of top officials from the security alliance to the area.

On Friday, Putin is set to hold a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Samarkand on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security grouping dominated by Russia and China. The Armenian government said that Pashinyan, who also was due to attend the summit, would no longer attend because of the situation in the country.

In Washington, a group of legislators supporting Armenia lobbied the Biden administration.

Adam Schiff, the influential Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and four other members of Congress called on the White House and State Department to “unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan’s actions and cease all assistance” to Azerbaijan.