Putin and Pashinyan on the situation in the zone of the Karabakh conflict

Baku/02.12.20/Turan: “Indeed, Armenia and the Armenian people have gone through a very difficult period in their history, and the Armenian leadership, the Prime Minister had to make very difficult decisions, but necessary for the people of Armenia,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

He called these decisions "painful, but necessary" and stressed that their adoption required great personal courage from Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“This is an obvious thing. Each of those present at today's meeting understands the degree of responsibility when making decisions of this kind. He took this responsibility upon himself," Putin said, adding that the task of the CSTO colleagues is to support the Armenian Prime Minister and his team in order to establish a peaceful life, achieve the implementation of all decisions and help people who find themselves in difficult life situation.

"It took Russia a huge mediation effort to stop the bloodshed, achieve a complete ceasefire and begin the stabilization process," he said. At the same time, Russia followed the key agreements reached in the OSCE Minsk Group, in particular between its co-chairs.

"The Russian side, in coordination with Yerevan and Baku, is already dealing with all these issues. Moscow is interested in joining these humanitarian initiatives of all CSTO and CIS partners," Putin added. According to him, the possibility of cooperation with other international organizations is also being discussed.

In turn, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on urgently to resolve issues related to the exchange of prisoners of war and hostages, the bodies of the dead. It is necessary to exclude cases of using violence against prisoners of war, detained persons and humiliation of their dignity, Pashinyan said.

According to him, it is necessary to create conditions for the return of the Armenians of Karabakh to their homes and take measures to protect the cultural and religious monuments of Armenians in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan. -02D-