MINSK, 15 October (BelTA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin touched upon the topic of peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region at the web-based CIS summit which was held under the chairmanship of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 15 October, BelTA has learned.
Earlier at the summit, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed their positions on this topic.
The peace agreements in the region were reached with the direct participation of Russia, and now the Russian peacekeeping contingent is the guarantor of the truce regime. "With our assistance, humanitarian goods are delivered, the territories are being mine cleared, on both sides. The life support system is being restored, medical assistance is being provided to the population. Tens of thousands of refugees have returned to their homes. All this once again confirms Russian wisdom: ‘A bad peace is better than a good war', ‘Every quarrel leads to reconciliation' and so on," the Russian leader said.
"Actually, the key role of the Commonwealth of Independent States is to provide conditions for peaceful cooperation and joint work for the prosperity and development of our countries, improving the well-being of our citizens," Vladimir Putin said.
According to the Russian leader, over the past 30 years the CIS has grown into an authoritative regional integration association. “Thanks to the CIS we have preserved and even bolstered economic, social, cultural and humanitarian ties that we had when we were one state,” Vladimir Putin stressed.
Contradictions occur sometimes, he said. “It is really bad however when these contradictions lead to serious conflicts between individual CIS member states, as it happened in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Russian president said.
Vladimir Putin also touched upon other issues in his speech, including the coronavirus pandemic, trade and investment cooperation, green economy, digitalization, innovations, human resources, the humanitarian sector, and mass communications. An important topic on the summit agenda was the shared historical legacy and protection of historical truth about the Great Patriotic War.
Vladimir Putin also mentioned the joint statement on protection of citizens' electoral rights and guarantees of electoral sovereignty. “In this statement, the CIS countries express their commitment to the key principles of international law concerning respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in internal affairs, including electoral processes. This topic is, in fact, relevant to all our states,” he said.