The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia have received a personal invitation from Vladimir Putin to attend the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan on October 22-24
Despite criticism, Russia continues to successfully play the role of the main mediator in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus that alone cannot resolve their territorial disputes.
On Tuesday, October 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Kremlin. As Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan said earlier, “a peace agreement between the two neighboring countries may be signed within a month.”
The main topic of the talks between Putin and Aliyev was the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And during talks first with Aliyev and then with Pashinyan, the Russian president analyzed the main parameters of the peace agreement that should put an end to conflicts and territorial disputes between the two nations.
During the talks with Aliyev, the Russian leader noted with satisfaction that relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are “developing positively.” Putin made it clear that the official round of talks in the Kremlin was preceded by an informal meeting held at the Russian president’s residence near Moscow. “Last night we have already touched in one way or another on issues related to the current state of relations between our countries. I would like to note immediately that relations are developing positively,” Putin said at the start of the meeting.
The Russian president emphasized that the two countries are jointly developing “many interesting projects,” particularly in the energy sector, as well as in infrastructure. Thus, Russia and Azerbaijan are building a railroad that will start in St. Petersburg, pass through Azerbaijani territory, and reach ports in southern Iran.
At the end of the meeting, the Russian leader personally invited Aliyev to take part in the BRICS group summit to be held in Kazan on October 23 and 24.
During talks with the Armenian prime minister, Putin praised Armenia’s willingness to go along with the Russian peace plan despite pressure from Armenian nationalists. Speaking about the level of bilateral relations between Moscow and Yerevan, Putin recalled that the trade turnover between the two countries in the first nine months of 2024 increased more than 2.5 times compared to the same period of 2023, exceeding $8.3 billion. “If bilateral trade maintains this positive dynamics, it may reach a record 14-16 billion dollars by the end of 2024,” Pashinyan said in turn. In conclusion, the Russian leader also confirmed his invitation to Pashinyan to participate in the BRICS summit in Kazan, where, according to some sources, a direct meeting between the Azerbaijani president and the Armenian prime minister may be organized.
At the same time, the Kremlin specifically emphasized that at the BRICS summit in Kazan “there will be no special session devoted to the conflict in Ukraine.” According to Yuri Ushakov, adviser to the Russian president, “nothing like this is planned within the BRICS summit.”