Moscow, January 11, AZERTAC

Following the trilateral meeting among Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Russian President, the Azerbaijani President and the Armenian Prime Minister have made press statements.

Statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin

First of all, I would like to thank my colleagues – both the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia – for agreeing to visit Moscow today to discuss issues related to the implementation of the terms of our peace agreement of 9 November last year.

We conclude that the terms of this agreement have been generally complied with and no serious incidents have been recorded.

Russia's peacekeeping group is fulfilling its obligations to both sides.

As I said at the beginning of today's meeting, more than 48,000 IDPs and refugees have already returned to Nagorno-Karabakh. Continuous work is being done to restore the infrastructure, energy, residential buildings and social infrastructure.

I consider today's meeting to be very important and useful because we were able to reach an agreement and sign a joint statement on the development of the situation in the region. I am talking about specific steps to establish economic relations and develop infrastructure projects.

For this purpose, a working group will be established headed by the deputy prime ministers of three governments – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. In the near future, they will set up working expert subgroups and present concrete plans on the development of the transport infrastructure and the economy of the region.

I am confident that the implementation of these agreements will benefit both the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan, will undoubtedly benefit the region as a whole, and hence the interests of the Russian Federation. Thank you.

Statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. First of all, I would like to thank you for this invitation and your initiative to hold this meeting. I share your opinion that the meeting was very important for the further sustainable and secure development of our region.

Two months have passed since the ceasefire was declared, and the fact that leaders of the three countries that signed the Statement on 9-10 November are meeting in Moscow today shows that we are determined to achieve the result and draw a line under the events of September and November. The statement signed today testifies to our intentions, because one of the clauses of the statement on the results of the cessation of hostilities dealt with the restoration of transport communications. This area can impart great dynamism to the development of the region and strengthen security. The opening of transport communications is in the interests of the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and our neighbors. I am confident that neighboring countries will also extensively join the creation of a diversified network of transport corridors and arteries in our region. We must continue to try to find areas of activity that are effective and result-oriented in the short term.

In general, I would like to say that the joint statement of 9 November, or 10 November as per Azerbaijani time, is being successfully implemented. Most of the provisions of this Statement have been implemented. The Russian peacekeeping mission is doing its job effectively and there has been no serious cause for concern over the past two months, except for minor incidents. All this gives us confidence that, as Vladimir Vladimirovich said, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been consigned to history and we must think about the future, how to live together as neighbors, how to work to open transport arteries and strengthen regional stability and security.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you very much again for the invitation, and I think that the meeting was very useful and fruitful. Thank you.

Statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

- Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich.

First of all, let me thank you for your efforts to restore stability and security in our region and to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately, this conflict has not been resolved yet. The conflict remains. Of course, we have managed to ensure a ceasefire, but there are still many issues to be resolved. One of these issues is the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Of course, Armenia is ready to continue talks on this issue within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Unfortunately, so far we have not been able to resolve the issue of prisoners of war, and this is the most sensitive and painful issue. Because this is a humanitarian issue. We have agreed to continue working in this direction. However, we believe that, in particular, Clause 8 of our joint statement, unfortunately, is not fully implemented. I do hope we will be able to make a concrete decision soon. But I must say that the statement we signed today is really important. I will not conceal that the implementation of the agreements in this statement can simply change the economic landscape and image of our region. Economic innovations can lead to more reliable security guarantees, and we are, of course, ready to work constructively in this direction. But as I said, unfortunately, not all issues can be resolved in one meeting. I do hope that we will go further. I want to emphasize again that the most important issue for us at the moment is humanitarian issues – the exchange of prisoners of war provided for in Clause 8 of our joint statement of 9 or 10 November.

Vladimir Putin: In general, I would like to thank my colleagues once again for their constructive work today. Thank you.