MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to negotiate a deal on a long-standing standoff between the two former Soviet neighbors, the Kremlin said Friday.
The negotiations reflect an attempt through the Kremlin to bolster its influence in the region amid active U. S. mediation efforts.
Putin’s talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were scheduled for Monday at the Russian leader’s Black Sea in Sochi.
The Kremlin said the leaders would discuss the implementation of a 2020 peace deal negotiated through Russia and “other measures for stability and security in the Caucasus,” adding that “issues similar to the recovery and progression of trade, economic and maritime ties will also be addressed. “be spoken.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a decades-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of Armenian-backed ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994.
During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured giant swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories controlled by Armenian forces for decades. More than 6,700 people were killed in the fighting, which ended in a Russian-brokered peace deal. Moscow has deployed some 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.
A new round of hostilities broke out in September, when more than two hundred infantrymen were killed on both sides in two days of heavy fighting. Armenia and Azerbaijan traded blame for the start of the fighting.
Russia is Armenia’s main best friend and sponsor. It is a military base in the country, but also has warm ties with Azerbaijan. The Kremlin has engaged in a delicate balancing act by seeking friendly relations with the two countries.
After the latest circular of fighting, some Armenian officials expressed dismay at Moscow’s inability to take more decisive action toward Armenia, which is a member of a Russian-dominated security alliance of several ex-Soviet nations.
Moscow, in turn, has been angered by Yerevan’s efforts to expand closer ties with Washington, which included one in September through a U. S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Speaking at a convention of foreign policy experts on Thursday, Putin vowed that Moscow would help Armenia’s interests in any eventual deal.
“We don’t have the goal of enforcing or dictating to Armenia,” he said.
The 2020 ceasefire brokered through Moscow included efforts to secure shipping routes in the region. Efforts to negotiate the main points led to bitter disputes and helped cause the last fighting in September.
In a clear picture of tensions with Armenia, Putin said Thursday that the Kremlin pleaded with Pashinyan’s government before the 2020 hostilities to accept a compromise that envisaged Armenian forces abandoning Azerbaijani lands outside Nagorno-Karabakh, which they seized in the early 1990s.
“We thought it would have been a step towards normalizing the scenario in the region as a whole, but the Armenian leadership took another path,” Putin said. “That led to the scenario we have today. “
During the 2020 fighting, Azerbaijan only regained those territories, but also seized significant parts of Nagorno-Karabakh proper.
Putin argued that a possible proposed deal through the U. S. would not be a major deal. The US would allow Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“If Armenia stores this opinion, that’s good,” Putin said. “We will make any selection made by the Armenian people. “
At the same time, he hinted that Russia could simply help Armenia negotiate a larger deal that would allow Nagorno-Karabakh to retain some autonomy. But he warned that Yerevan will have to be in a position to make concessions.
“If other Armenians and Armenian leaders think that Nagorno-Karabakh has special characteristics that want to be identified and reflected in a long-term peace treaty, this is also possible,” Putin said. “But it is mandatory to hold negotiations in order to succeed in an appropriate agreement for Azerbaijan. This is a difficult, difficult question.