SPUTNIKVladimir Putin’s backyard just got a whole lot smaller.A year and a half after the Russian president’s rash, illegal, blundering invasion of Ukraine, Russian peacekeepers have been forced to admit defeat in the faraway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, handing control back to Azerbaijan after a 24-hour military offensive, which killed a senior Russian officer.For Azerbaijan, which began talks with Karabakh’s Armenian separatist leaders on Thursday to formally take back control of the region, i
Captain Ivan Kovgan, 52, was gunned down in the disputed Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where he was seconded as deputy commander of a peacekeeping force