PRESS RELEASE

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Russia: Third Force Behind Nagorno-Karabakh Flare-Up—Clearly Erdogan

April 3, 2016 (EIRNS)—The flare-up of deadly fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region is being driven by a third force, leading Russians have reported. Most reports on the recent violence treat the conflict, which has been unresolved since at least 1994, as if it were organic to the region, but in this world, nothing happens in a vacuum. Russia has an airbase in northern Armenia which it recently reinforced and about which Turkey has been complaining. Erdogan, before he left Washington, declared that "we will support Azerbaijan to the end."

Deputy Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergei Zheleznyak, attributed the renewed outbreak of violence to a "third force," without explicitly naming Turkey or the Saudis.

It is clear that the force that continues to fan the flames of war in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus—dissatisfied with the peacekeeping and counter-terror success of Russia and our allies in Syria—is interested in the speedy exacerbation of the protracted conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region,

he wrote on his Facebook page yesterday.

According to Zheleznyak, "neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia essentially need this exacerbation now." He noted that "there is every likelihood that this provocation has been organized by a third force," adding that "information on its presence is beginning to leak out." He indicated that, in the mountains, it is sufficient to have only a few trained individuals to provoke "retaliatory" actions by either side.

That’s why the Russian President and our government agencies urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to cease fire and not to allow to draw them into someone else’s insidious game, as long as it is still possible,

he noted, adding that "Russia will do its utmost to defuse tensions in the Caucasus."