President of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan has said that Russian peacekeepers deployed in Karabakh acted as “observers” when Azerbaijan launched a full-scale offensive on September 19.
In an interview with the Artsakh State TV, Shahramanyan said that everything started when, on the morning of September 19, the Azerbaijani military approached the Russian case near Shushi and warned them to their troops as there was going to be artillery fire soon, Aysor.am reports.
“After checking with the Russian peacekeepers, this fact was confirmed, and it became clear to me that after some time military operations would possibly begin,” Shahramanyan said.
According to the President of Karabakh, during the military operations, they realized that they had to face Azerbaijani aggression on their own.
“The Russian side was, one might say, acted as an observer, we were left to settle our issues on our own,” he said, adding that his goal was stop the military operations as soon as possible and avoid deaths.
On September 19, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, which left hundreds of Armenians killed and thousands of others displaced. On September 20, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to a ceasefire on Azerbaijan’s terms, including the dissolution of the Defense Army. On September 18, President of the Republic of Artsakh Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree, according to which the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will cease to exist by January 1, 2024. Over 100,000 displaced residents have already fled Nagorno-Karabakh and reached Armenia.
