President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Pashinyan, we recently had a meeting of the intergovernmental commission, and our colleagues stated that our economic relations are evolving steadily: we have seen a 73 percent increase in trade over the first ten months of this year. This is a good result.
But there is something we began to discuss yesterday, and the three of us had a talk: of course, the main issue is the settlement in the South Caucasus, and specifically, in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the tensions around Karabakh.
So, as agreed, we will discuss all these matters at length.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you, Mr Putin.
First of all, let me thank you for the invitation, and for organising the informal CIS summit. This is becoming a good CIS tradition.
You are certainly right that our top and most urgent priority at the moment is the Lachin Corridor crisis. You know that the Lachin Corridor has remained blocked for almost 20 days. This is the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
I would like to remind you that, according to the tripartite statement by the President of the Russian Federation, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Lachin Corridor should be controlled by the Russian peacekeepers, and the Republic of Azerbaijan guaranteed the unimpeded passage of passengers, cargo, and people along the Lachin Corridor.
Now it turns out that the Lachin Corridor is not under the Russian peacekeepers’ control. Of course, I would like to discuss this situation, and see what the options are.
Thank you for this opportunity.
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