President Vladimir Putin of Russia said on Friday that Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia this week “has nothing to do with Karabakh.”
“The latest event has nothing to do with Karabakh, that’s an entirely different area on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. We really regret the loss of life,” Putin said, speaking to reporters in Samarkand, Uzbekistan where he is attending a summit.
The Russian leader took credit for ending the brutal aggression on Armenia’s border, saying that his country’s “support and influence” stopped the attacks in the first place.
“We are all concerned about the escalation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. We’ve spoken about this. Yesterday I spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. It is good that through coordinated efforts it was possible to cease the escalation, but as far as I understand the situation remains tense,” Putin said ahead of meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in the Uzbek city.
