High-ranking Russian commander shot dead in Nagorno-Karabakh She explains why even ‘military experts’ are wrong about the Ukrainian counter-offensive

A senior Russian commander has been killed in Azerbaijan’s attack on the Armenian-inhabited Nagorno-Karabakh region. This is reported by several Russian state media. A Russian Navy veterans club confirmed the commander’s death on Thursday.

Accordingly, the man is Ivan Kowgan. He was deputy commander of the so-called Russian “peacekeepers” stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh and also deputy head of the Northern Fleet’s submarine force. Kowgan died three days before his 53rd birthday as a result of a “treacherous bullet,” Russian media quoted “severpost” officers of the Northern Fleet as saying.

As usual in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, there has been no official confirmation from Moscow. But on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said a vehicle carrying Russian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh came under small arms fire on its way back from an observation post near the village of Janyatag.

Aliyev expresses his “deep condolences” to Putin

“As a result of the shelling, the Russian soldiers in the vehicle were killed,” the statement said, without giving the number or names of the men killed; some Russian media spoke of four soldiers killed. The Russian Defense Ministry has not named anyone responsible for the soldiers’ deaths. However, Russia is considered the protecting power of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and was therefore on the enemy side of Azerbaijan.

But Azerbaijan is also keeping a low profile: according to the Kremlin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev apologized on Thursday for the death of the Russian soldiers. In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he expressed his “deep condolences” over the “tragic death of soldiers of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh on September 20,” the Kremlin said.

The Azerbaijani government in Baku also initially appears not to have taken any blame for the deaths of the Russian soldiers. Instead, Aliyev promised to provide the Kremlin with detailed information. A statement from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said it was working with Russia to investigate the causes of the incident.

“Russia has completely failed as a protective power for Armenia”

Russian commander Kovgan was deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh together with other Russian soldiers to fulfill Russia’s responsibility as a so-called protective force for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In total, the Kremlin has stationed around 2,000 soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh to monitor a ceasefire brokered in 2020.

However, Armenia had doubts about its protective power even before Azerbaijan’s attack, as Russia had remained largely inactive during the blockade of the Lachin corridor in recent months. Azerbaijan has been blocking the corridor, which is considered the only access route for food and medicine to Nagorno-Karabakh, for months.

Even during Azerbaijan’s attack on Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday and Wednesday, Moscow did not promise military support to the authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The so-called peacekeepers on the ground apparently assisted in the evacuation of Armenians from the surrounded villages, but were not allowed to fire unless they themselves were attacked.

Since Tuesday, Azerbaijan has attacked Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within its territory but is predominantly inhabited by Armenians, with rockets and artillery. On Wednesday, authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to a ceasefire. But: It is de facto a surrender, because the Russian soldiers on the spot fully complied with the Azerbaijani demands during their mediation. “Russia has completely failed as a protective power for Armenia,” says South Caucasus expert Stefan Meister.

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