The Armenian prime minister has asked Russian border guards to leave their posts at the country’s main airport in Yerevan starting August 1, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
– In autumn 2020, our military forces and border guards were deployed in a number of Armenian regions, at the request of the Armenian side. Pashinyan said that today, due to changed conditions, there is no longer such a need, so President Putin agreed, and the withdrawal of our forces was agreed, Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
The announcement comes after nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers pulled out of and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian separatists by force last September.
However, Russian border guards remain at Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran at the request of the Armenian authorities, says Peskov.
The conflict last year, in which Russia did not prevent Azerbaijan from taking Nagorno-Karabakh, has led to a knot in the traditionally good relations between Armenia and Russia.
