After the failure of its African policy, France is trying to create an image of a peacemaker in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Meanwhile, it's in fact Russia that has been playing a peacekeeping role in the region, she noted.
The decades-long conflict over the Armenian-majority breakaway state of Nagorno-Karabakh, located in Azerbaijan, reignited in the fall of 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched what it called "local anti-terrorist activities" in Nagorno-Karabakh aimed at "restoring the constitutional order." At a meeting mediated by Russian peacekeepers the following day, Azerbaijan and representatives of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed on a complete cessation of hostilities.