Putin is confident that if the Armenians had stayed in Karabakh, nothing bad would have happened to them

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he would like to speak out for the last time about Russia's position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and no longer discuss this topic, since he had agreed with both sides not to do so anymore.

"I don't want to dig around in the recent past (...) We agreed that we would try not to do this, but you are simply forcing me. It's all right, we'll talk about this topic and then we won't anymore," Putin said at a press conference in Bishkek, answering a question about whether he was satisfied with the results of his conversation on the sidelines of the SCO summit with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Putin recalled that "it all started with the Karabakh problem, the prime minister (of Armenia) himself signed the corresponding paper in Prague and recognized that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan." "From that moment on, our position on this issue took on a very dual character. What, can we interfere or must we interfere in Azerbaijan's internal political affairs?" Putin said, recalling that the West had also actively insisted that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan.

"They told me: we will make sure that the rights and interests of the Armenian population living there are ensured. I said: you will not ensure anything, the people will simply leave and that's it. Although President Aliyev will not do anything bad to these people. He is a modern, intelligent man, he will try to ensure their interests — one hundred percent. But they still will not stay. And that is how it turned out," the Russian president said.

As Putin emphasized, "after this, it is quite difficult to take responsibility for all these events." "As if (it turns out) Russia is right there. We have explained and explained. I don't want to accuse anyone here. But the logic of events was what it was. Perhaps there are also certain advantages in this decision of the current leadership of Armenia, because it reveals the situation completely. One can turn the page and move on, already without any conflicts, settle people in a new place of residence, unblock the infrastructure, start a new life in the economy, open the borders to investment, and so on," Putin believes.

"There are in fact quite a few advantages as well," the Russian president concluded.

Source: Interfax