VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 12 (Interfax) - There is no reversal in Russian-Armenian relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"I do not think there is any reversal. We can see and we understand what is going on," Putin said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum while commenting on the latest events in Russian-Armenian relations characterized by many as a crisis and a reversal.
As for the current situation in the Karabakh conflict zone, Putin noted that the situation had drastically changed after the Armenian administration formally recognized the Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
"If Armenia has recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, what can we do?" he said.
Putin admitted that a number of problems, including humanitarian affairs, security of Karabakh Armenians, and the mandate of Russian peacekeepers, remained unsolved.
"Of course, other questions arise, those related to humanitarian affairs and the mandate of our peacekeepers. The mandate is still valid, whereas humanitarian matters, the prevention of ethnic cleansing of any kind, obviously remain, and I absolute agree with that," Putin said.
"I hope that, as we have always been told and are still told, the Azerbaijani leadership has no interest in ethnic cleansing of any kind. Quite the opposite, it is interested in the smooth process [of conflict settlement]," he said.