Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) appropriateness of Russian forces upholding the peace between Armenian and Azerbaijan.

At this time the UK Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Russian 'peacekeeping' forces although we are aware of the terms of their deployment, as set out in the Trilateral Ceasefire Agreement of 2020. Any deployment of international observers should follow recognised and accepted international norms. We have been clear that there can be no military settlement to this conflict. As such, we welcome the continued efforts of international partners, including the recent deployment of EU and OSCE Monitoring Missions, to support stability and security in the region.