Putin: what should we do if Armenia recognizes Karabakh within Azerbaijan?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he does not believe that there is any reversal in relations with Armenia.

“We see and understand what is happening. A lot can be said about this. We offered our settlement options. Armenia used to control seven regions, we proposed to reach an agreement with Azerbaijan in such a way that two regions - Kelbajar and Lachin - and all of Karabakh would virtually remain under the jurisdiction of Armenia, but the Armenian leadership did not agree with this, although we tried to convince the Armenian leadership for a decade. When we asked what [they were] going to do, they told us “we will fight”. OK. Ultimately, everything came to the situation that has now developed,” Putin said Tuesday, September 12.

According to him, it’s not just the results of the 2020 war, but also the fact that the Armenian authorities have essentially recognized the sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

“And the Prague statement recorded this on paper. We know about this. Now Azerbaijani President [Ilham] Aliyev tells me, you know that Armenia has recognized that Karabakh is ours, that the question of the status of Karabakh is no longer an issue, it has been resolved. And the Armenian leadership publicly stated this, counting the entire territory before 1991 within the Azerbaijani USSR and naming a number that included the territories of Karabakh itself. This is not our decision, but that of the Armenian leadership,” Putin noted.

“If so, they tell us, then all issues, if you want to do something about Karabakh, must be resolved with us on a bilateral basis. Well, what can we say here? There’s nothing to say here, if Armenia itself recognized that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, so what should we do,” Putin said.