ArmInfo.President of Russia Vladimir Putin has answered the questions of Russian journalists about October 14 CSTO Summit in Yerevan and the Karabakh conflict.
"I will start with what you ended with. We have spoken about Nagorno-Karabakh and a definite tension arising between other countries, former Soviet republics. Here is what I think - and I told my colleagues about this - you see, there are issues that arise between NATO member states, for example, between Turkey and Greece on the Cyprus issue. This is nothing new. It is well known that these problems have persisted for many years, decades even. But is NATO going to war with one side then the other? And for us, it does not even matter whether a country, a former Soviet republic, is part of the CSTO or not. It matters that we have special, historical relations with all these countries, and they are closer and deeper than the relations between NATO member states. We cannot but take this into account," the president said. Vladimir Putin recalled that the CSTO was created to address external threats.
"Certainly, we have to somehow respond to what is happening next to us, but we must strive for all problems with roots in the past to be solved peacefully, through compromises - compromises that both parties are willing to accept. In this context we have discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and other problems.
In fact, what I just said is not so different from Mr Lukashenko's stance. But it is better to ask him to clarify what he was thinking and what he considers necessary to do. He is a rather impressive speaker, and he will elaborate on this himself," the Russian leader said.