BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30
Trend:
Russia is doing its best to restore normal relations in the South Caucasus, the country’s president Vladimir Putin said during Direct Line held in an online format, Trend reports.
"Russia played a certain role in the settlement of the conflict [Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan]. If we all live peacefully and amicably, then we’ll create conditions for improving people's lives not only in the field of security but also in the current conditions, bearing in mind the normal existence of families, economic and social development,” Putin noted.
“True, there are really a lot of problems. There are issues related to the restoration of normal infrastructure, demarcation of the border in order to carry out appropriate work on the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, especially where the state border has essentially never existed,” the president further said.
“This was only the administrative border between the Soviet republics. We are now in the process of this work. We have created a special trilateral group and are doing everything to restore normal relations in the region,” he added.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.
A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.
Following the liberation of its lands, Azerbaijan from Nov. 2020 started carrying out operations on clearing its lands from mines, booby traps, and various weapons left behind by the Armenian troops.