Thursday, October 13 2022 12:45

ArmInfo.. France's President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia on Wednesday of purposefully provoking the recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of an  effort destabilise the Caucasus region and beyond, Reuters reports. 

The worst fighting between the two ex-Soviet countries since 2020  broke out in late September, killing more than 200 people.

The fighting is linked to decades-old hostilities over control of the  Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognised as part of  Azerbaijan, but until 2020 largely controlled by the majority ethnic  Armenian population.

Moscow, which has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base  there, deployed thousands of peacekeepers to the region after a  ceasefire in 2020.

That reaffirmed its role as policeman and chief power broker in the  volatile part of the former Soviet Union where Turkey also wields  increasing influence thanks to its close alliance with Azerbaijan.

However, speaking to France 2 television on Wednesday Macron said  Moscow had stoked tensions in recent months in favour of Azerbaijan.

"What's been happening on the border the last two years ... 5,000  Russian soldiers are allegedly there to guarantee the border, (but)  the Russians have used this conflict which dated back several  centuries and played Azerbaijan's game with Turkish complicity and  came back to weaken Armenia which was once a country it was close  to," Macron said.

"You see what's happening? It's an effort by Russia to destabilise.  It wants to create disorder in the Caucasus to destabilise all of  us."

France, along with the United States and Russia are co-chairs of the  Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk  Group that mediates over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Macron last week sat down with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council President Charles  Michel to flesh out an agreement that will see a civilian EU mission  head to the countries' border to assess the situation.