Moscow Questions Washington’s Sanity Amid Reports of US Meddling in Karabakh

Informed sources told Russian media Wednesday that the United States is trying to get its foot in the door as a “mediator” in the dispute between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that Washington has threatened the Armenian side with a fresh round of violence if it doesn’t comply.

Reports of Biden administration officials making threats of renewed bloodshed in Nagorno-Karabakh are troubling, and raise questions about the “sanity” of US mediators, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has told Sputnik.

“We are concerned about the information which has appeared in the media that the US is now trying to impose its mediation services in the dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, including through threats of the use of force,” the ministry said, referring to the capitals of Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic, respectively.

“Reports of threats made by representatives of the Biden administration against Nagorno-Karabakh raise questions about the sanity of American mediators,” the ministry added, noting that the "goal" of US policy appears to be gain a new foothold in the region.

On Wednesday, Russian media reported that Washington is seeking to force its way into sensitive negotiations over the contested territory, issuing an “ultimatum” to Karabakh Armenians demanding a meeting with Azeri representatives in the near future in a third country in negotiations brokered by the US. If Stepanakert refuses, it will face a fresh Azerbaijani “counter-terrorist operation” in the disputed region, according to informed sources.

A diplomatic source in Washington later corroborated the information in the media report to Sputnik.

US officials have yet to comment.

Observers have pointed to the interesting timing of US “mediation” proposals. Veteran Russian Caucasus politics expert Stanislav Tarasov told Sputnik that Washington’s efforts are meant to give the US a new springboard through which they could “contain Iran,” and block a major Russian-Iranian transport corridor infrastructure agreement reached in May allowing cargoes to be shipped between the Russian heartland and the Indian Ocean by destabilizing the region and scaring off investment.

US and European Union officials held a series of meetings with their Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts last month, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announcing that Yerevan would be prepared to formally recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan if the security of its ethnic Armenian population could be guaranteed. This move, combined with efforts to push the Russian military out of the region, and remove Armenia from Russian-led economic and defense blocs, has sparked concerns about Armenia being left “to the mercy of Western sponsors,” with the nation strategically wedged between traditional adversaries Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Moscow deployed a 2,000 troop-strong peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War of September-November 2020. Russia also has a military base in Gyumri, northwestern Armenia, providing Yerevan with peace of mind about its security since independence in 1991.

The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute has plagued Armenian-Azerbaijani relations for decades. The region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but has been governed by an ethnic Armenian majority since the 1990s after declaring itself an independent republic. The dispute over the region began in the late 1980s, when the region was an administrative autonomy within the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, amid the weakening of the Soviet central government in Moscow, and the rise of competing nationalisms. Several major wars and smaller conflicts have been fought over the territory in three-and-a-half decades, killing thousands and causing hundreds of thousands of people to be displaced.