Putin says Karabakh 'irrevocably' became part of Azerbaijan in 2022

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Karabakh "irrevocably" became part of Azerbaijan in 2022 when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed the relevant declaration at a meeting in Prague.

"It (Karabakh) became a part of Azerbaijan definitively last year, in November, at a meeting in Prague. Prime Minister (Nikol) Pashinyan made a statement that radically changed the status of Karabakh, it determined the status of Karabakh," Putin said at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek.

Russia is ready to facilitate the resumption of negotiations on signing a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan know this, he noted.

"It seems to me that this is quite possible (signing a peace treaty), I don't see any problem that could prevent the conclusion of a peace treaty now, after the events in Karabakh," he said.

Commenting on media reports claiming that Ukraine delivered weapons to Hamas, Putin said: "I doubt that there were arms shipments from Ukraine, but I have no doubt that there is a leak of weapons from Ukraine. There is no doubt that weapons supplied to Ukraine go to black market."

"The level of corruption in Ukraine is known, it is very high. The black market develops in such a way that there are many who want to buy, and in Ukraine, there are many who want to sell," he said.