SOCHI, October 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev suggested that they negotiate the status of peacekeepers on a bilateral basis, which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed.

"By defining the status of Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, Armenia has made a qualitative change in its position," the president told the Valdai forum. "After that, at one of the meetings, [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev came up to me and said, 'You see, everyone has recognized that Karabakh is ours. Your peacekeepers are there on our territory.’ Even the status of our peacekeepers underwent an immediate qualitative change after Karabakh was deemed a part of Azerbaijan. He (Aliyev - TASS) said: ‘Your military is on our territory, let's now agree on their status on a bilateral basis’," Putin said.

"Well, and [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan confirmed: 'Yes, you now need to agree on a bilateral basis,'" Putin added.