Russian President Vladimir Putin said today in Baku that his country is ready to contribute to the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
‘If we can do something that will allow us to sign a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, take the issues for the delimitation and demarcation of the border (…), unblock the relevant areas of logistics and the economy, we would be very pleased,’ said Putin, who arrived on a state visit to Azerbaijan on Sunday and met with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliev.
Putin said that although Russia is also facing crises, ‘primarily in the Ukrainian sector’, Moscow’s involvement in the situation in the South Caucasus in recent years dictates that it should take part in the resolution process.
At the same time, Putin emphasized that this involvement will be done ‘to the extent that the parties request it’, namely Azerbaijan and Armenia.
‘Of course, after the visit to Azerbaijan, I will contact [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinian and tell him about the results of our talks,’ said the head of the Kremlin (Russian presidency).
Ilham Aliev emphasized that Azerbaijan is ‘very satisfied’ with the level of interaction with Russia.
Putin’s visit to this Caucasus country, a close partner of Moscow but also an important energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.
Vladimir Putin last visited Azerbaijan in September 2018.
Host of the COP29 climate conference in November, the country is a major producer of natural gas, which the European Union has used to compensate for the sharp reduction in Russian supplies since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia, for its part, is accused of having acted in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics that have long remained in the Russian sphere of influence, and of having different positions on the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Armenia criticises Moscow for its lack of support for Azerbaijan, which in September 2023 completely reconquered by force this mountainous region of Azeri territory controlled for three decades by Armenian separatists.
Since then, Yerevan has sought to strengthen its ties with the West, including the United States.
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