Russian, Armenian presidents meet in St. Petersburg

When meeting with his Russian counterpart in St. Petersburg, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has stated that “in order to obtain the change of the status quo, it is necessary to start de-occupation of Azerbaijani territory, which has been under the occupation for more than 20 years”.

The two parties expressed satisfaction with the ceasefire regime which has been preserved on the line of contact in recent times.

“In addition to that we have outlined concrete measures for activation of the talks, the Presidents agreed on a trilateral statement that expresses their commitment to normalize the situation on the contact line”.

Putin is expected to have separate meetings with the presidents and then the three presidents will discuss the Karabakh issue together.

According to Armenian President, Armenia’s position on the NK conflict is well-known.

Armenia wants the conflict to be solved peacefully, Sargsyan noted. “I would like to thank Russian Federation as a co-chair of the Minsk Group for its understanding and efforts regarding this issue”, Sarkisian was quoted as telling Putin by the ITAR-TASS news agency. An agreement was reached to take measures for creating monitoring mechanisms investigating border incidents, increasing the scope of responsibilities of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and for possible resumption of negotiation process.

He noticed that nevertheless, such conflicts can not be settled at will of one party. “It proved that we have all the grounds to give extra impetus to the negotiating process”, the Russian top diplomat said.