Putin reflects on peacekeepers, Karabakh situation, border protection

PanARMENIAN.Net - The trilateral agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh is being consistently implemented in general, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a CIS summit on Friday, December 18.

"We were all worried about the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which involved Azerbaijan and Armenia – CIS member states that are close to all of us.

He reminded that Russia made certain mediation efforts to stop the bloodshed in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and helped achieve a complete ceasefire. At the same time, according to Putin, the sides sought to follow the key agreements of the OSCE Minsk Group, RIA Novosti reports.

“It is important that it (the agreement - Ed.) is being consistently implemented as a whole. The Russian peacekeepers deployed along the line of contact are doing everything to prevent a new round of escalation, ”the Russian president said, according to TASS.

"Now the international community and the CIS countries are faced with the important task of helping the affected regions in solving humanitarian problems related, inter alia, to the return of refugees, the restoration of destroyed infrastructure, in the protection and restoration of historical, religious and cultural monuments."

Putin also noted the need to strengthen communication among the CIS countries in the field of security in the post-Soviet space, including in the issue of border protection.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev on November 9 signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side has returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.