Azerbaijani leader reveals details of talks with Putin before signing peace deal

“After we had liberated the city of Shusha, Vladimir Vladimirovich called me and said that Armenia was ready to do what it was supposed to do. He asked: `Do you stick to your position?’ I said: `Yes, I do not change my position. If they give us the dates for the withdrawal of their troops from the remaining occupied territories, we will stop. This happened in the evening on 8 November’,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Russian magazine Natsionalnaya Oborona, Report informs.

“And on 9 November, we agreed to talk again because Vladimir Vladimirovich played a very active role, as if conveying my messages to Pashinyan and his messages to me. This lasted from the early morning of 9 November until late at night. And, of course, there were a lot of issues that needed to be agreed upon. All this was happening in an emergency mode. Imagine that we had to agree on a text between two warring countries in a matter of one day, and, of course, this text had to take into account the realities. And it did take these realities into account. It was taken into account that Azerbaijan is a victorious country and Armenia is a country that capitulated.

"So, this process of approvals went on until late at night and beyond. By Baku time it was already 10 November, which is why we call it the Statement of 10 November. In Moscow, it was still 9 November. And finally the text was agreed. Of course, it was supposed to be signed, but Vladimir Vladimirovich asked me not to insist on Pashinyan signing it in our presence.

"The Russia president is a very delicate person, very subtle, he treats everyone with great respect, so I said that I would not insist on it. I do not need any additional elements associated with humiliation, because this is not about humiliation of a person, but of a country, which we cannot afford. So, I agreed that the two of us would sign it, but, of course, with the guarantee that Pashinyan would also sign it somewhere.

"It is still unknown where he signed it. I have repeatedly asked this question in public, but have not received an answer. Maybe, we will find out about this a year later, at least for history. This is about as much as I can say about that day,” the president stressed.