BAKU—Russia will continue assisting Azerbaijan and Armenia to help them forge a compromise and a mutually acceptable peace formula to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday during while visiting Azerbaijan to meet with Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts.
“This is a problem we inherited from our Soviet past. I know this is a thorny issue for both Azerbaijan and Armenia. We will strive to ensure that Armenia and Azerbaijan find a compromise solution acceptable for both sides,” Putin was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti.
“There should be no winners or losers. The winners should be the peoples of the two countries, so that they feel they have solved this challenge for the benefit of today’s and future generations,” added Putin.
In an earlier interview with an Azerbaijani news agency Putin said Moscow is not trying to impose some ready-made solutions upon Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that the sides should reach an agreement and find mutually acceptable solutions independently, without external pressure.
“Reaching a compromise means finding an optimal balance between the principles of territorial integrity and the right of peoples to self-determination. We are fully aware of the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership. We welcome the constructive approach that prevailed during the latest summit on the conflict settlement held on June 20, 2016, in St. Petersburg,” Putin said on Monday in an interview with the Azerbaijani press.
“The final goal of the conflict resolution should be an agreement with no winning or losing sides, with mutual concessions and benefits for both sides that are clear to the public in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. In its turn, Russia is ready to support a solution that would be acceptable to all parties involved and, together with other mediators, to act as a guarantor of the settlement,” said Putin.
During a press conference, Aliyev thanked Putin for his leadership in advancing the peace process.
“I would like to emphasize Russia’s role in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.
The Russian leader is scheduled to meet with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday in Moscow.
Following the Putin-Aliyev meeting, the two leaders met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The three leaders signed a declaration to expand and develop cooperation among the three nations bordering Armenia.
Code word for surrender!
SAME RUSSIA THAT WANTED THE MADRID RUIN PRINCIPLE FOR ARMENIA: LANDS RETURNED NOW FOR FUTURE REFERENDUM LATER. WHO WOULD AGREE TO THIS NONSENSE? GIVE NOTHING. OR BETTER YET, FINAL STATUS BEFORE ANY LANDS RETURNED. ALL OF THIS NONSENSE TO TO APPEASE AZERBAIJAN. AT THE COST OF ARMENIA. GIVE NOTHING BACK.. ARMENIA HOLDS THE SEAT. WE WON THE WAR. THEY WILL LOSE THE SECOND TIME AGAIN IF ALL OUT WAR STARTS.. APRILS WAR PROVED THAT…
Armenians don’t need this ‘assistance’. Russia has only been ‘assisting’ Turks and these so-called ‘Axerbaijanis’. Bolsheviks helped Turks avoid punishment after the first world war, and they did that by dividing Wilsonian Armenia. They gave Artsakh and Nakhichevan to Axeries (and Javakh to Soviet Georgians). They kept Artsakh from going independent, by doing all manner of bad things, like the notorious Operatsiya Kol’tso (the Ring Operation, when Armenians were forcefully dislocated. This was a grave military crime, by the way, but has Gorbachev ever been tried for that? How many sidenotes like this one can we add?) THE FATE OF ARTSAKH HAS BEEN DECIDED BY ITS PEOPLE IN A REFERENDUM. (And that referendum was more legitimate than the way Russia itself became independent.) Over the recent years, they have been supplying attack weapons to Axerbaijan. And, in April, did nothing to stop their agression. But did stop Armenians when those were ready for the advance. This was pretty very much the same way that they ‘assisted’ Axerbaijan in 1994, saving them from total defeat (that had become imminent IN SPITE of Russia heloung Axerbaijan with weapons and even personnel). Kremlin has been, and is, ruled by criminal gangs. Artsakh doesn’t need their ‘assistance’, it’s only meant to assist Axerbaijan and Turkey. Indeed, with a friend like Russia you do not need enemies.
It should be none of Russia’s business how Armenians decide to resolve their conflict with the artificial gas-station of Azerbaijan. If Armenia is a sovereign country then no other country has the right to dictate Armenia how to take care of her problems with her NON-native anti-Armenian racist and genocidal Turkish mutts from Central Asia.
Russia is supposed to be an ally of Armenia and should conduct herself accordingly. If two countries are allies then they should have mutual interests that are beneficial to both sides. This can not be a one-sided deal. It is not up to Putin, or anyone else for that matter, to tell or suggest or dictate Armenia to compromise. This decision is neither the decision of Armenia’s president alone. It is up to the Armenian people alone to decide how to resolve this conflict. The government exists to serve the people it represents and not the other way around.
Armenia, along with Artsakh, must make it very clear to Russia that while Russia can play a major role in this conflict resolution, ultimately it should have no role whatsoever to decide for the Armenians what the terms of this resolution should be. Should it ever come to this, the Armenian nation as one must rise up against all pseudo-friends and enemies foreign and domestic.
Armenians have always been victorious when they were prepared and ready collectively to sacrifice anything and everything for the love and the preservation of the homeland. The last war of liberation (Artsakh) was a proof of this fact and it should be a blueprint for the future. NO compromise with the fascist Turks and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijanis!