Putin hopes for peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku

YEREVAN, November 23. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking today at a CSTO summit in Yerevan, said he hopes that Armenia and Azerbaijan would sign a peace treaty, Tass reported.

Putin praised the summit of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia held in Sochi in late October, and said that the Sochi talks created a good basis for future compromises on issues of principle.

The Russian president said that the joint statement issued after Sochi meeting confirmed the adherence to the trilateral agreements reached at the highest level in 2020 and 2021.

He stressed that "only consistent implementation of these agreements regarding the delimitation of the border, the unblocking of transport communications and the resolution of humanitarian problems" will help normalize relations between the countries.

"We hope that this will enable us to eventually reach a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku," the Russian head of state said, adding that he has already exchanged ideas on the matter with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and will talk more at a bilateral meeting to be held in Yerevan later on Wednesday.

According to the statement adopted following the October 31 summit of Russian and Azerbaijani presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to strict observance of all the earlier reached agreements in the interests of comprehensive normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, ensuring peace, stability, security and sustainable economic development of the South Caucasus.

The parties agreed to refrain from the use or threat of use of force, to discuss and solve all problems exclusively on the basis of mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in accordance with the UN Charter and the Almaty Declaration of 1991, and also stressed the importance of active preparation for the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.

The parties agreed to make additional efforts to urgently resolve outstanding tasks, including the humanitarian issues, and also noted the key contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to ensuring security in its area of deployment and stressed the need for its efforts to stabilize the situation in the region. -0-