"These statements are unacceptable." Putin intends to talk to Macron about Karabakh

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned French leader Emmanuel Macron's statements on the Karabakh conflict. To his thinking, the French President's words about Russia's meddling in this confrontation in order to weaken Armenia are incorrect and unacceptable.

Putin surprised

Speaking at the CIS summit, Vladimir Putin called Emmanuel Macron's statements about Russia's allegedly destructive role in the Karabakh conflict unacceptable. The Russian leader stressed that he was "surprised" to learn about the French President's opinion.

"I was surprised to read some of the French President's comments yesterday about the results of the meeting on October 6. I believe that these statements are lacking understanding of the very course of the conflict. They sounded incorrect, I would say even - perverted, therefore they are unacceptable," Putin said.

According to him, he will "discuss" the issue with his French colleague if there is an "opportunity. The Russian President believes that Macron apparently has no information about the position of the parties.

Recall that on October 6, Macron, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and EU President Charles Michel held a quadrilateral meeting in Prague. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the sides reached agreements on the principal points of the peace treaty.

"An agreement on the principal points - there were five of them - was reached. This includes recognition of each other's territorial integrity, border demarcation and so on. All that remains is to implement them," he said in an interview with TV-net.

"Destabilization maneuver."

On October 12, in an interview with France 2 TV channel, Macron, speaking about the conflict between Baku and Yerevan, blamed Russia for what was happening.

"Russia intervened in this conflict; it clearly played the game of Azerbaijan with Turkish complicity and went back there to weaken Armenia.  This is a maneuver to destabilize Russia, which in the Caucasus seeks to create a mess for all of us to weaken and divide us," the French President said.

Continuing the topic, Macron agreed that there is a unique bond between France and Armenia and also categorically rejected accusations of Paris' indifference to the fate of the Transcaucasian Republic. He recalled that France has always been consistent in its fight against the denial of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

"Blatant and unacceptable."

On the eve of Macron's remarks about Russia's role in the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova published a comment on her website.

"We consider Emmanuel Macron's statements that Russia is allegedly using the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to destabilize the South Caucasus to be blatant and absolutely unacceptable. Zakharova said: "Such attacks are in line with the anti-Russian policy of the West aimed at demonizing Russia and demonstrate attempts to transfer the confrontational logic from Ukraine to other parts of the post-Soviet space including the South Caucasus.

She believes that the "fabrications" of the French leader are "absurd" and "testify to Paris' disinterest in the establishment of lasting peace in the region”. The diplomat believes that Macron's words also "call into question his country's ability to play a constructive role there."

Zakharova pointed out that "unlike France, which even in periods of tension between Baku and Yerevan limited itself to standard appeals for peace," Russia "contributed to the conflict resolution.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia "made a decisive contribution to the signing of a trilateral statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on November 9, 2020. According to her, it "put an end to the bloodshed. In accordance with the agreement, a peacekeeping contingent was deployed in the region. It "remains the guarantor of security in the region." The peacekeepers "effectively prevent incidents" as well as "help establish peaceful life": they deliver humanitarian aid and restore infrastructure.

She added that with the help of peacekeepers, 53,000 refugees had returned home, more than two thousand bodies of the dead had been returned, and "a total of 146 detainees had been returned and more than 25,000 explosive devices had been disarmed."

Zakharova recalled that "it was Russia that launched the work for the comprehensive normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan. According to her, "active efforts to promote the peace agenda are ongoing with Russian participation.

"The attempts of Paris to drive a wedge into Russia's relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia, with which Russia has longstanding and multifaceted ties, are doomed to failure and will only lead to further devaluation of France's authority in the region," she concluded.