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Russia on Tuesday dismissed criticism from Armenia that its peacekeepers were failing to maintain order at the Lachin corridor, the sole road linking Armenia to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Russia deployed peacekeepers to patrol the road in 2020 after Yerevan and Baku fought a war over the region, but Armenia has since accused Azerbaijan of blocking the corridor, stopping food from getting to Armenian-populated towns.
The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed suggestions it had walked away from the region after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Italian media that Moscow was either “unable or unwilling” to control the Lachin corridor.
“Russia continues to fulfil its role as a guarantor of security… Russia is not going anywhere and is not going to go anywhere,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
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Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have escalated sharply in recent months, as both sides accuse the other of cross-border attacks.
Four Armenian servicemen were killed on Friday and three Azerbaijani soldiers wounded, the two countries said, as they accused each other of engaging in a new round of clashes.
The two sides have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia.
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