MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Russia is doing its best to help Armenia and Azerbaijan normalize relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin told an emergency meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council on Friday.
"As for a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, we have been making every effort to achieve a comprehensive normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan," Putin said, recalling that Azerbaijan and Armenia were part of a single state in the recent past.
"Russia has traditionally <…> paid attention to stability in this domain and has always supported our Armenian partners in the provision of security for the Armenian people," Putin emphasized.
According to the Russian leader, Moscow has numerous ties both with Yerevan and Baku. "Ignoring this is absolutely impossible. No doubt, all of us are currently facing quite a difficult situation, but we cannot ignore the problems and disputes between countries who are close to Russia and we are willing to contribute to finding peaceful solutions," Putin said. In general, Russia would like to see the Caucasus as a calm and steadily developing region, he added.
Putin said he had no doubt that the only realistic path to peace was through strict compliance with all the provisions outlined in joint statements by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"It is by implementing these agreements toward delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, while unblocking transportation routes and solving humanitarian issues that Armenia and Azerbaijan can reach a stable normalization," the Russian president said, adding that he had repeatedly discussed this with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. "As far as I understand, our colleague [Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev] totally agrees here. Finding solutions will not be simple, but they can be found along these tracks only. This would take [the parties] to a peaceful settlement further down the road," Putin concluded.