BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 11
Trend:
Trilateral agreements on Karabakh are being implemented, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, Trend reports.
Putin delivered the remark during a trilateral meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in the Kremlin (Moscow).
"We continue to regularly check our actions with our partners, with the chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group. Today we can state with satisfaction that the trilateral agreements are being consistently implemented. We are convinced that this creates the necessary preconditions for a long-term and full-scale settlement of the old conflict on a fair basis, in the interests of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples," the Russian president said.
According to Putin, a Russian peacekeeping contingent has been deployed at the request of the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides to monitor the observance of the ceasefire on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor, and systems have been created to effectively enforce the ceasefire regime: “There are 23 observation posts in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, and four additional posts are responsible for traffic safety along the corridor. Now the situation in the region is calm.”
“With the mediation of Russia, the exchange of prisoners and the bodies of the dead were carried out. The International Center for Humanitarian Response is successfully functioning, within the framework of which experts from our countries solve pressing issues related to the establishment of normal life in settlements, reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure, protection of historical, religious, and cultural monuments. The staff of the center is engaged in the restoration of energy and heat supply,” said the Russian president.
“More than 479 hectares of territories were cleared of mines, 182 kilometers of roads, 710 buildings and structures were checked, more than 22,000 explosive objects were discovered and destroyed,” Putin said.
“I think that today it would be important, first of all, to outline the next steps in the key areas of settlement mentioned in the joint statement of November 9, 2020. I am referring to issues related to the activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, clarification of demarcation lines, solution of humanitarian problems, protection of cultural heritage sites. The task of unblocking economic, trade, and transport links in the region and the opening of borders deserves special attention. It is assumed that these issues will be dealt with by a special trilateral working group chaired by the vice prime ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia," he said.