‘Vladimir Putin made a unique contribution to the Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization’: Russian Deputy FM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a unique contribution to the launch of the Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization process, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told the Izvestia newspaper.

“We welcome the progress that Azerbaijan and Armenia have made towards the conclusion of a peace agreement and normalization of bilateral relations…It was he (Putin) who made, dare I say, a unique contribution to launching the process of normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. First of all, this was done in November 2020, when a trilateral document was signed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia—a document that contained a roadmap for the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization with Russia’s assistance. We advocate that the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides finalize a peace agreement that would open the way and mean a sustainable long-term normalization of relations, rather than laying a ‘mine’ for future generations,” Galuzin said.

According to him, the West is pushing Armenia and Azerbaijan to conclude a peace agreement, but ill-conceived and not fully verified decisions cannot lead to long-term durable peace.

“Naturally, we are always ready to contribute to moving forward, and we are against the conclusion of any hasty documents, as insisted on by the West, which very much wants to push Armenia and Azerbaijan to finalize a peace agreement as soon as possible on any Western platform. Such hasty, ill-considered, and not fully verified decisions may lead not to a long-term durable peace, but, on the contrary, plant some seeds of confrontation for the future, which, of course, we consider extremely undesirable neither for Armenia and Azerbaijan, nor for the South Caucasus, nor for Russia,” he added.