Meeting with Putin, Pashinyan Expects Clear Position of Russia on Azerbaijani Aggression

SOCHI — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday,  in advance of tri-party summit with president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Pashinyan hoped for a clear position of the Russian Federation on the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from its sovereign territories.

Pashinyan also thanked Putin for organizing a tripartite meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

“First of all, let me thank you for the invitation and for organizing today’s trilateral meeting. Of course, the agenda of our bilateral relations is extensive, but with your permission I want to concentrate on regional security issues,” he noted.

Pashinyan confirmed that Armenia considers Russia’s approaches to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable. “Last week, at the Valdai Discussion Club, you raised the issue of a possible peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, emphasizing some important parameters of this process related to Nagorno-Karabakh, asserting that you will support the choice of the principles the Armenian favors. I would like to emphasize once again that when it comes to Nagorno Karabakh, the approaches proposed by the Russian draft of the basic principles and parameters for establishing interstate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are acceptable to us,” Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM stated that the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh is very important for Yerevan.

For his part, Russian president Putin stated that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has been going on for many years and must be ended.

“This conflict has been going on for decades, so we still need to end it sometime,” the Russian President said.

Putin hopes that the trilateral summit with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will help find steps towards a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I know that you have the political will for this, and we support it in every possible way. We must work with you now, and then in a trilateral format, to find key points that will allow us to move forward,” the Russian President said.

Putin noted that in order to deal with such a serious, long-standing issue as the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a lot of effort is needed.

The Russian leader recalled how agreements were reached օn the course of ending the armed conflict.

“Then we all proceeded from the fact that the most important was to ensure peace and create conditions for the development of the Armenian economy, because the unblocking of the transport infrastructure, the creation of new routes – all these issues are related to the development of the economy and the social sphere. Ultimately, this is what we are working for, all this is planned in the interests of people,” Putin said, noting that during the meeting it is necessary to talk about all these issues. “I really hope that we will move forward,” the Russian President said.