16:57,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin says the territorial problems that emerged between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the Karabakh armistice was signed must be resolved through negotiations.

“We’ve agreed on a cessation of military actions, and we’ve agreed that the sides will stand in positions where they were at the moment of the signing of the statement,” Putin said at a news conference when asked to comment on the developments in Hadrut.

“Some technical problems emerged regarding this, which are related with infrastructures, both for Armenia and Azerbaijan. These problems must be solved calmly, during the negotiations process, because the trilateral statement provides all possibilities for this, because it mentions that after the establishment of a ceasefire a complete stabilization of relations must take place in the region, with economic and infrastructural unblocking. This refers also to Nakhijevan, and Armenia’s south and north. I hope that the flare-up which happened with the violation of the ceasefire will be the only one and that it will be possible to bring all agreed sides around negotiations,” President Putin said.

Putin noted the importance of the November 9 Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan statement because it stopped the bloodshed in Karabakh. He noted that all other matters are secondary to this.

“The preservation of people’s lives and health is the most important objective that we solved,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan