Putin: The Russian Federation is ready to facilitate the signing of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku

Russia is ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS Member States in a narrow format.

“The agenda is to prepare a peace treaty to finally put an end to this long-standing conflict. The Russian side is, of course, ready to provide our partners with all possible assistance in this regard, in particular, we agree with organizing negotiations in Moscow in any format,” he said.

Russia, according to the president, has been making efforts for three years to prevent escalation, and within the framework of trilateral agreements, work has been carried out to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku. Russian peacekeepers conscientiously carried out their mission in Karabakh, Putin emphasized.

The summit of CIS leaders will be attended by the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan did not come to Bishkek.

Baku carried out “anti-terrorist measures” in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19–20. As a result of the conflict, by October 1, 100,514 ethnic Armenians out of 120,000 nominally declared by the NKR authorities left the region, most of them settled in neighboring Armenia. At the same time, representatives of official Baku held several meetings with the delegation of Karabakh Armenians regarding the living conditions of those remaining, whose exact number is not known.

On October 5, Putin said during a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi that Armenia could receive part of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, for the last 15 years Moscow has offered Yerevan to receive two territories of Karabakh, but to return five regions to Azerbaijan.