SOCHI, October 31. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have agreed on a joint statement following their talks in Sochi on Monday, Putin said.
"Today we have agreed on a joint statement. I must say frankly, not everything was agreed upon. Some things had to be removed from the text that had been previously drafted by experts," the Russian president said.
"Nonetheless, I agree with the general assessment that the meeting was useful and that creates conditions for further steps toward the settlement of the situation on the whole," Putin said.
He said he meant the events of the recent past and the events that happened two years ago.
"We managed to agree then on issues of principal importance and the discussion of today speaks to our ability to also reach an agreement about the future of all our countries. When I say all our countries, I mean Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia and the future of all countries of the region because all peoples living on that territory are interested in a normalization of relations," Putin said.
He also said, "Russia will make every effort for the ultimate and comprehensive settlement to be reached."
Very useful meeting
The Russian president shared some details of the meeting.
"First with the Armenian delegation, then we had one-on-one talks with the prime minister of Armenia. Then with the Azerbaijani delegation, and one-on-one talks with the president of Azerbaijan. And then the three of us spoke for two hours, or maybe longer than that," he said.
"We share the opinion that it was a very useful meeting. In my view, it created a very good atmosphere for possible future agreements on some principal issues," Putin said.
He thanked Aliyev and Pashinyan for agreeing to travel to Russia and hold a discussion.
"As we have agreed, we will be in contact, will continue the dialogue and continue to look for solutions that are necessary to put an end to this long-lasting conflict," the Russian president said.