Timeline · Events touching Moscow · 3 events
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Capital of Soviet settlement and Russian brokerage

Moscow appears in the atlas as the decision centre for both Soviet and post-Soviet conflict management. The Treaty of Moscow in 1921 helped fix the Turkish-Soviet border order and the status of Nakhichevan. Soviet central institutions later preserved the borders and autonomies that structured the Karabakh dispute.

After 1991 Moscow remained the most consequential external broker. Russia mediated ceasefires, sold or supplied arms, maintained a base in Armenia, and deployed peacekeepers after the 2020 war. Yet Moscow's role was never purely protective. It balanced leverage over Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, and often benefited from unresolved dependency. editorial

The failure of Russian peacekeepers to prevent the Lachin blockade and the 2023 exodus has made Moscow's role newly contested in Armenia. The capital that once guaranteed the settlement is now associated with its collapse.

YearEventKind
1921Treaty of Moscowtreaty
1936Soviet Constitution of 1936 codifies NKAO and Nakhichevandeclaration
1989Volsky Special Administration of NKAOdeclaration