Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during a press conference yesterday on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, said Russian peacekeepers must leave “Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region” in 2025.

Erdoğan, responding to a reporter’s question, said the 2020 Karabakh war ceasefire agreement signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan stipulates a five-year mandate for the peacekeepers.

“In 2025 Russia must leave that region. It is written in the agreement, and I am confident that Russia will adhere to it,” Erdogan said.

The peacekeepers’ mandate can only be extended if all parties agree.