YEREVAN, November 8. /TASS/. The presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh is of paramount importance to sustain peace in the region, and they should stay there for good, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said in an interview with the Argumenti i Fakti, responding to a question of how long the presence of peacekeepers can take in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"For good! I don’t know whether you find the right word to describe my emotion. The Russian army has been on this territory for decades, centuries. Their presence is of paramount importance. What the peacekeepers do makes a huge difference for both regional policy and possible talks on the status of Karabakh, the future of this region and keeping war at bay," the Armenian president said.
Sarkissian thanked Russian servicemen. "Perhaps, I should take this opportunity and say thank you, they are soldiers after all. They could serve peacefully in the Russian territory, having no problems, since nobody knows what tomorrow will bring to us," he said.
The Armenian president also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for making such a difficult decision.
Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities in Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had maintained, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor. The situation stabilized after the deployment of Russian peacekeepers and tens of thousands of Karabakh residents have returned to their homes.