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1st Russian Peacekeepers Deploy to Karabakh Conflict Zone

Armenian police officers detain a protestor near the Government building after a protest against the country's agreement to end fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region outside the government headquarters in Yerevan on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP)
Armenian police officers detain a protestor near the Government building after a protest against the country's agreement to end fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region outside the government headquarters in Yerevan on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP)
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1st Russian Peacekeepers Deploy to Karabakh Conflict Zone

Armenian police officers detain a protestor near the Government building after a protest against the country's agreement to end fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region outside the government headquarters in Yerevan on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP)
Armenian police officers detain a protestor near the Government building after a protest against the country's agreement to end fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region outside the government headquarters in Yerevan on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP)

Russian peacekeepers have deployed to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the military said Wednesday, as part of a peace agreement to end weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the province.

More than 400 servicemen arrived in Armenia, senior General Staff official Sergei Rudskoy said, adding that the peacekeepers were now in control of the Lachin corridor, a key connection between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region.

Meanwhile, Armenian police arrested demonstrators in the capital Yerevan as anger mounted over Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's decision to sign the controversial peace deal with Azerbaijan.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said more than one hundred protesters had gathered in central Yerevan shouting "Nikol the traitor," adding that police had detained demonstrators including high-profile opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan.

Pashinyan announced the Russian-brokered peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the early hours of Tuesday, ending more than six weeks of intense fighting that left more than 1,400 dead and displaced tens of thousands.

"You will not be able to stop the whole country," a member of the Prosperous Armenia party, Arman Abovyan, shouted through a megaphone to protesters who had rallied despite a ban imposed on public gatherings while martial law was in place.

Under the terms of the agreement, Azerbaijan's forces will retain control over areas seized in the fighting, including the key town of Shusha, while Armenia agreed to a timetable to withdraw from large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The mountainous region of Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan nearly 30 years ago.

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German Warships Await Orders on Crossing Taiwan Strait

Sailors line the deck of the German frigate F222 Baden-Wuerttemberg in New York City, US, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Sailors line the deck of the German frigate F222 Baden-Wuerttemberg in New York City, US, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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German Warships Await Orders on Crossing Taiwan Strait

Sailors line the deck of the German frigate F222 Baden-Wuerttemberg in New York City, US, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Sailors line the deck of the German frigate F222 Baden-Wuerttemberg in New York City, US, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Two German warships await orders from Berlin, their commander said, to determine whether next month they will be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait, drawing a rebuke from Beijing.
While the U.S. and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy's first passage through the strait since 2002.
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180-km (110 miles) wide waterway that divides the two sides and is part of the South China Sea. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
The Taiwan Strait is a major trade route through which about half of global container ships pass, and both the United States and Taiwan say it's an international waterway.
"The decision has not been taken yet," the commander of the naval task group, Rear Admiral Axel Schulz, told Reuters in a telephone interview, adding the weather would play a role.
"We are showing our flag here to demonstrate that we stand by our partners and friends, our commitment to the rules-based order, the peaceful solution of territorial conflicts and free and secure shipping lanes."
Asked about the German ships' potential passage, China's foreign ministry said Taiwan was an internal Chinese affair and the key to stability was opposing Taiwan's independence.
"China has always been opposed to the undermining of China's territorial sovereignty and security under the guise of freedom of navigation," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
Before their possible passage through the strait next month, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main plan to call in Tokyo on Tuesday. They will also make stops in South Korea and the Philippines.
They will take part in exercises in the region with France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States.
Over the last four years, Beijing's military has increased its activities in the strait.
EXPANDING MILITARY PRESENCE
Sailings through the waterway by foreign warships, especially American, are regularly condemned by Beijing, which says such missions "undermine peace and stability" in the region.
Germany, for whom both China and Taiwan, with its huge chip industry, are major trade partners, has joined other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region as their alarm has grown over Beijing's territorial ambitions.
In 2021, a German warship sailed through the South China Sea, for the first time in almost 20 years.
Last month, the Luftwaffe deployed fighter jets to Japan for the first joint drills there.
Schulz said he was not planning for any specific security measures should the warships under his command cross the Taiwan Strait, calling it a "normal passage" similar to sailing through the English Channel or the North Sea.
However, he anticipated any passage would be closely monitored.
"I expect the Chinese navy and potentially the coastguard or maritime militia to escort us," he said, describing this as common practice.