Russian Peacekeeping Contingent in Volatile Nagorno-Karabakh to Consist 2000 Servicemen

The Russian Ministry of Defense said the peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh will number almost 2,000 servicemen.

"To control the ceasefire and hostilities, a peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is deployed in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the amount of 1960 military personnel, 90 armored personnel carriers, 380 units of automobile and special equipment," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

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The basis of the Russian contingent will be the units of the 15th separate motorized rifle (peacekeeping) brigade of the Central Military District.

"The departure of the Russian peacekeeping contingent from the Ulyanovsk airfield is carried out by military transport aircraft IL-76," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The 15th separate motorized rifle brigade was formed on February 1, 2005 to participate in the maintenance of international peace and security. This is the only peacekeeping unit in the RF Ground Forces and is part of the 2nd Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District (CVD).

The press service of the Central Military District stated that the brigade was staffed only with contract servicemen and was equipped with modern weapons. The 15th brigade was given the honorary name "Alexandria" by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation in October 2018.

On Tuesday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a complete ceasefire and all hostilities had been declared in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from November 10.

Signed earlier today through a video conference, the peace deal was brokered by Russia and Turkey. It seeks withdraw Armenian troops from the disputed territory and replace them with Russian peacekeepers who are already on their way to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to exchange prisoners and bodies of the dead. Refugees will return to the conflicted territory.

A Russian Air Force Mi-24 helicopter was shot down by Azerbaijan accidentally, just hours before the peace deal was signed.