Putin: Mission of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh was to monitor ceasefire

The legal status of the Russian peacekeepers was based solely on the 2020 statement; their mission was solely to maintain the ceasefire, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session as part of the 20th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Report informs.

He added that after the recent events, this has changed, and now the issue of the Russian peacekeeping contingent will be resolved only with Azerbaijan.

He noted that Azerbaijan didn't see the need to sign an additional agreement on the status of peacekeepers.

“Azerbaijan believed that this was not necessary, but signing this agreement without Azerbaijan was pointless. The mission of the Russian peacekeepers was to observe the ceasefire. The peacekeepers had no other rights there,” said the Russian president.

Putin added that after Armenia recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, the country's President Ilham Aliyev told him that now the issue of the presence of peacekeepers there will be resolved only on a bilateral basis, since they are located exclusively on the territory of Azerbaijan.