Putin to Aliyev: The Russian peacekeeping contingent is fulfilling  its mission properly

ArmInfo. The purpose of this meeting, as I see it, is to ensure the implementation of all our agreements that were reached in 2020 and 2021. Russian President  Vladimir Putin stated this at a meeting with his counterpart from  Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, during the Russian- Azerbaijani talks in  Sochi.

According to the Kremlin press service, welcoming Aliyev for his  visit to Sochi, the Russian president apologized for the unfavorable  weather conditions.

"Thank you for visiting us in Sochi. As a matter of fact, this is a  meeting organized on your [initiative] and on the initiative of the  Prime Minister of Armenia - and it is happening in Sochi,, where,  apparently, you were expecting good weather conditions, but it didn't  work out, because it's autumn, nevertheless, the meeting is important  in my opinion.

The purpose of this meeting, as I see it, is to ensure the  implementation of all our agreements that were reached in 2020 and  2021. You have repeatedly pointed out that Russia has played a  prominent, important role in resolving the conflict. And now our  peacekeeping contingent is fulfilling its mission properly. I am  grateful to you for these assessments," Putin said.

And today, of course, the Russian leader continued, it will be  necessary to talk about the situation that has developed as of today,  to look for ways to resolve issues that have not yet been resolved.

"And in this regard, I would also note an important component of an  economic nature: we have established a trilateral working group,  which is headed by vice-premiers. They have advanced quite far in  terms of resolving the issues that we spoke about earlier, two years  ago. Apparently, additional momentum should be given in this matter  as well. I know that the Azerbaijani side is working quite actively  in this direction.  The range of issues is quite large," the Russian  President emphasized.

In turn, Aliyev stated that he had met with the Russian leader last  month, and this month they had the opportunity to discuss bilateral  relations in sufficient detail and state the positive dynamics in  these relations.

"Today's meeting is about our regional issues. Once again I want to  express my gratitude to you for the role you played in the settlement  of the Karabakh conflict, a trilateral declaration was signed two  years ago, which put an end to the long-term conflict.

Now is the time to speak and act towards the normalization of  relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.  And of course, we highly  appreciate your personal role in this matter. Today's trilateral  meeting, which will follow a little later, will not be our first  meeting, such meetings were held on your initiative and, I see, they  gave a very good impetus to the normalization process," Aliyev said.

At the same time, he stressed that Azerbaijan relatively recently put  forward five basic principles on which relations between Azerbaijan  and Armenia should be normalized. According to Aliyev, "these are the  fundamental principles of international law, and I think that  normalization can be achieved on this basis."

"The Karabakh conflict is already history, it was resolved two years  ago, so there is practically nothing to discuss in this context. And  the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations is a format that,  of course, requires very serious steps. We are counting on your  active personal role and the role of Russia in achieving these  goals," Aliyev concluded