Russia ready to support Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed readiness to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks and border delimitation.

Speaking at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, Putin said he’d be happy to support the signing of the peace treaty.

“We’d be very happy to do anything to achieve the signing of the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia, to advance in the border delimitation and demarcation, as we have numerously talked about, to unblock the relevant routes in logistics and economy,” Putin told Aliyev. He said Moscow is ready to be involved in the direction that will be needed by both sides.

“We talked about this topic yesterday, and we will continue today,” the Russian leader added. “This touches upon the normalization of the situation in the South Caucasus. Obviously, everyone knows that Russia is also facing crises, including first of all in the Ukrainian direction, but Russia’s historic involvement in the South Caucasus situation over the course of the past years dictates the necessity of our participation in those developments, certainly in the direction that is in demand from both sides, undoubtedly,” Putin said.

Putin said he’d contact Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after the talks in Azerbaijan to brief him on the results.