MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s friendly relations with Baku and Yerevan helped to achieve a peace deal on Nagorno-Karabakh, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" on Rossiya-1 TV channel.
"Good and constructive relations based on mutual respect with Baku and Yerevan helped Putin to mediate this settlement [of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh]," Peskov said.
In order to stabilize the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Putin spent "many and many days with a phone in his hand" and personally controlled the developments, he noted. Putin also held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"In 2020, active combat actions in Europe right near our borders are something that certainly the world community must not allow to happen. In this case Putin’s responsible position, his efforts to stop this are certainly worth a lot and it’s hard to overestimate them," Peskov stressed.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku and Yerevan have disputed sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the region announced its secession from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. In the armed conflict of 1992-1994, Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjoining districts.
On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said that the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held, and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.
After the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has stabilized. Tens of thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh residents who had left their homes during the hostilities returned with the help of the peacekeeping force.
