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Azerbaijani President: Armenia's security is provided by Russia, free weapons are provided by Russia

11 October 2020 16:59 (UTC +04:00)

"Russia as a co-chair of the Minsk Group, of course, has the same rights and powers as the other countries of the OSCE Minsk Group. But, of course, as our neighbor and a country that has a common history with both Azerbaijan and Armenia, Russia plays a special role, of course," President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has said in an interview with the Russian RBC TV channel on October 10, APA reports.

"This role is based both on history and on the interaction of our peoples, as well as the weight and role of Russia in the world and in our region, of course. Therefore, due to these objective reasons, the possibilities of Russia to influence the settlement of the conflict are incomparably greater than those of any other country. Therefore, we have repeatedly appealed to the Russian leadership, so that the Russian leadership would engage the levers of political influence on Armenia and urge the Armenian side to end the occupation. This topic has been discussed many times, and I can tell you that in all of the numerous meetings I have had with my Russian colleague, this topic was discussed in one form or another, either in detail or not very extensively, but this did not happen. It is no secret that Armenia fully depends on Russia today. Security is provided by Russia, free weapons are provided by Russia. We have destroyed Armenian hardware probably worth billions of dollars. Right now, in a matter of two weeks. Where did they get this money? They don't have it. These are all free deliveries from Russia. Gas supply at preferential prices from Russia, electricity to some extent too. Railways, communications, a military base. Even the Armenian border with Turkey and Iran is guarded by Russian border troops. If it wasn’t for this, it would be empty. What other country has so many levers to influence Armenia? None! And there are probably no other two countries in the world, one of which would be so completely dependent on the other. Therefore, of course, I am convinced that if there is insistence on the part of Russia, given that we have changed the status quo, broken the line of contact and brought Yerevan to its senses, I think that Russia certainly has a lot of tools to quickly convince Armenia that the only way out of the situation – and not only in terms of military confrontation but also for the future of Armenia in general – is to find a solution together with Azerbaijan. And it is quite simple – leave the territory, withdraw the troops, our people will return there and we will try to live side by side again," Azerbaijani President said.