Tuesday, February 22 2022 16:56

ArmInfo. Russian leader Vladimir Putin is holding talks in the Kremlin with Azerbaijani  President Ilham Aliyev, who arrived in Russia on an official visit.

According to the Kremlin, during his opening speech Putin stated that  Aliyev's visit is taking place on the eve of a significant event in  our bilateral relations - the 30th anniversary of the establishment  of diplomatic relations.

"And today we will sign the Declaration on Allied Interaction. This,  quite obviously, is a new stage in the development of our relations,  and, of course, this became possible, including after reaching the  issue of the Karabakh settlement, which has not yet been fully  resolved in general, but advanced in its solution.

I think that we can, despite the problems that still arise in our  current life, still be satisfied that we have reached the level where  we are now. Of course, we will talk about this in detail today. But  in any case, there are already certain agreements not only in terms  of ensuring the security of all the people who live there, but also  in terms of developing trade and economic ties and unblocking  transport communications.

I know that there are still disputes, there is something to work on.  But for our part, we will do everything to ensure that this process  proceeds by peaceful means, develops in a peaceful way, and that we  achieve, of course, the satisfaction of all the parties involved in  this process," Putin said.  "By the way, both the Russian Federation  and your other neighbors, I know, are interested in these issues,  including those on transport communications, being resolved, because  not only Azerbaijan and Armenia are interested in this, but also  Russia, as well as all the rest of your neighbors," Putin said.  At  the same time, he also pointed to the progressively developing trade  and economic ties between the Russian Federation and the Azerbaijan  Republic, and the effective development of regional ties.  "And of  course, I would also like to inform you about what is happening in  our country in the Ukrainian direction. You know that yesterday  Russia decided to recognize the sovereignty of the two people's  republics of Donbass.

I want to say right away: we see and foresaw, one might say,  speculation on this topic - on the topic that Russia is going to  restore the empire within the imperial borders. This is absolutely  not true.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia recognized all the new  geopolitical realities and, as you know, is actively working to  strengthen our interaction with all countries, independent states  that have emerged in the post-Soviet space. Even in acute, very acute  situations, which is, say, the Nagorno- Karabakh settlement, we have  always acted very carefully, proceeding from the interests of all the  states involved in this process, and have always tried to achieve  mutually acceptable solutions.

Unfortunately, after the coup d'etat in Ukraine, we do not see such a  level and quality of interaction with Ukraine, it has disappeared. I  want to emphasize: it was after the coup d'etat and the illegal  seizure of power by those who did it," Putin added.

He also informed Aliyev that today he spoke with the President of  Kazakhstan and drew attention to the fact that this is the second  very good example of the fact that Russia only supports the  sovereignty of its neighbors, strengthens it in every possible way.

"Kazakhstan's example shows the same and confirms exactly our policy.  As you know, at the request of the Kazakh leadership, we supported  Kazakhstan within the framework of the CSTO in connection with the  external aggression of international terrorism. And as soon as this  problem was gone, at the request of the leadership of Kazakhstan, we  all we have withdrawn our Armed Forces as part of the CSTO contingent  and continue to cooperate with Kazakhstan in all areas of work,  which, of course, benefits both Russia and Kazakhstan and strengthens  the sovereignty of Kazakhstan.

This is how we intend to continue to act in relation to all our  neighbors. I repeat, the situation with Ukraine is different, and  this is due to the fact that, unfortunately, the territory of this  country is used by third countries to create threats against the  Russian Federation. It's just that. We will now have the opportunity  to talk about everything in more detail. I will inform you about the  details," the Russian leader summed up.