As for the Russian peacekeepers, the presidential administrations of Russia and Azerbaijan have already announced that they are leaving the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan ahead of time.

Axar.az reports that President Ilham Aliyev said this during his speech at the international forum on "COP29 and Green Vision for Azerbaijan".

"This was a joint decision of the leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan. I can also inform you about how we negotiated on this issue. I think it would be interesting. I have already stated several times in my meetings with Azerbaijani journalists that November 9 On the day, through the mediation of President Putin, - because we had no contact with our Armenian counterpart - during the talks on the tripartite statement, we agreed on every point of the tripartite statement, so it was almost until the morning of November 10 That's why we always say that the Declaration was signed on November 10. It was already half past 2 or 3 in the morning. The issue of the Russian peacekeepers was presented and the time limit for them shouldn't be. In other words, they have to stay there forever. We couldn't agree on that, and we insisted that there should be a time limit. That was one of the hardest parts that both sides couldn't agree on. For us, it was one of the most fundamental parts of the Declaration, and our position was that if we did not agree to it, there would be no Declaration and the war would continue. At that time, our troops were near Khankendi. We had de facto control over the so-called Lachin Corridor, and the fate of the 15,000 besieged Armenian soldiers after we liberated Shusha was completely clear to everyone. They had to surrender or it would be worse for them. We said, well, if there is no agreement, we will continue, we will enter Khankendi in a few hours. Thus, Armenia had to agree. I think they realize now that we were right. Thus, the 5-year period, with an extension if neither party objected, was, in effect, the starting point for troop withdrawal. We can only guess what the situation would be like if we didn't have that schedule. But I still note that the premature withdrawal of troops was a decision made based on consultations between Azerbaijan and Russia. Azerbaijan is always committed to its international obligations. Our position was that if it says November 2025, it should be November 2025. However, at the same time, both sides - Russia and Azerbaijan - clearly understood that they could leave sooner. However, it was a joint decision, and I think that this decision only strengthened Russian-Azerbaijani relations," Ilham Aliyev noted.