Trilateral Summit of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders was held in Moscow
25 May 2023, 23:20
Speaking at the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said:
– Dear Ilham Heydarovich. Dear Nikol Vovayevich.
Dear colleagues, friends.
We are grateful for your prompt response to the proposal to hold this meeting, and I hope that this will be a good prelude to the practical resolution of some of the issues we have already been talking about for a long time.
It was in this format that we managed to achieve success on many issues. In the fall of 2020, not only did the military operations stop, but also work began on unblocking the economic and transport communications and delimitation of the borders.
Many events have happened during this time. I will not dwell on each of them and not go into detail. In my opinion, despite the fact that there are still enough difficulties and problems in general, the situation is developing towards settlement. One of these directions is the work related to transport communications. We have talked about this in quite a bit of detail in the face-to-face format and there are still some unsettled issues. However, I think we have talked about it with our colleagues from both the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides. These issues are purely technical in nature.
We discussed this topic in detail. The point is the terminology. Of course, behind these terms is an accurate perception of realities and events. They come after the signing of relevant documents. However, in my opinion, from the point of view of all three of us – I mean myself, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan – these are obstacles that can be overcome. In fact, these are purely technical issues. This is why we decided that in the near future, in a week’s time – I am now asking my colleagues to agree this date – the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia will have a meeting. They will resolve the issues that have not yet been resolved yet, so to speak. I think it is a good agreement and it gives hope for the resolution of the issues that have not been resolved so far.
As for the timing, we agreed to meet in a week’s time. Today is Thursday. Do the delegations of Armenia or Azerbaijan have any suggestions? Because colleagues must agree on this among themselves. Is it OK after a week?
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: Yes.
President Vladimir Putin: Ilham Heydarovich?
President Ilham Aliyev: Yes.
President Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, representatives of the media. We will now work in a closed-door format for a while.