Russia is not interested in having a military base in Artsakh from either a CSTO security perspective or from an operative and strategic perspective, according to Konstantin Sivkov, a member and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences.
In the Yerevan-Moscow video bridge that took place in the press hall of Sputnik Armenia, Sivkov also spoke about the deployment of Russian peacekeepers at the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact and the establishment of a Russian military base in the area. He also said that Russia deploys military bases in recognized states in accordance with international agreements on the deployment of military bases. “Therefore, it is impossible to deploy a military base in Nagorno-Karabakh in these conditions. But increasing the number of peacekeepers at the request of the NKR side will be a completely feasible and normal process.”
According to the expert, deploying a military base is a difficult process even from a technical perspective since having a military base would involve using many types of weapons such as those used in airports, those used to repair military technology, military warehouses, living conditions for soldiers deployed at the base, and more. Therefore, it will be very difficult for Russia to deploy a military base in Artsakh from an economic perspective. Besides that, according to the expert, deploying a military base in Artsakh will cause tensions in Russia-Azerbaijan relations, which is not in Russia’s interests at all at the moment.
According to Viktor Murakhovsky, the editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, Russia already has a military base in the region. He was referring to the 102nd military base in Gyumri. Russia has large numbers of troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well. Therefore, having a permanent Russian presence in Artsakh, whose status is still uncertain, is not understandable.
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Nelly Grigoryan
