Putin-Aliyev-Pashinyan meeting not planned at CIS summit - Peskov

YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. A trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and the Armenian prime minister on the margins of the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg, is not planned, although Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will participate in the summit, slated for December 26, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax.

"They (the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia) will be (in St. Petersburg), but no meeting for the three is planned," Peskov said.

Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan last met in a trilateral format in late October in Russian Sochi. Putin also had a meeting with Pashinyan on December 9, on the sidelines of the EEU summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Earlier Peskov said that the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia would have an opportunity to talk on the margins of the informal summit in St. Petersburg, adding that there were no specific agreements in this regard.

The Armenian side, in turn, reported that a meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev before the end of this year was not ruled out, but the date and place were not specified.

In a statement issued on December 24, Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Aliyev of being in no way interested in the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus. The statement came after Aliyev voiced new territorial demands and threats of force towards Armenia during a meeting with the representatives of the so-called "Western Azerbaijan."

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on international partners to oblige Azerbaijan through targeted statements and actions to halt the warmongering and maximalist rhetoric, to fulfill the assumed commitments, to withdraw the Azerbaijani troops from the sovereign territory of Armenia and to restore the regular functioning of the Lachin corridor, which has been blocked since December 12.-0-