Vladimir Putin ruled on Friday that Emmanuel Macron did not understand the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorny Karakbakh, in response to statements by the French president who accused Moscow of seeking to destabilize the Caucasus.
“I think there is a lack of understanding of the course of the conflict in these statements, and obviously, of information from France on the position of the parties,” said the Russian leader, during a summit of countries in ex-USSR in Kazakhstan.
He added that Mr Macron’s remarks were “incorrect” and “unacceptable”, while affirming that he would raise the subject once more with the French president “if the opportunity arises”.
During an interview on the France 2 channel, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday: “Russia interfered in this conflict, it obviously played the game of Azerbaijan with Turkish complicity and it came back there to weaken the ‘Armenia.”
“It is a maneuver to destabilize Russia which, in the Caucasus, seeks to create disorder to weaken and divide us all,” he said.
Russia’s ally Armenia and Turkey’s backed Azerbaijan have clashed in two wars over the past three decades for control of Nagorny Karabakh, an Armenian-majority separatist enclave.
The last war, in the fall of 2020, left 6,500 dead and ended with a ceasefire mediated by Russia, which deployed a contingent of peacekeepers on the spot.
But in recent months, the European Union and the United States have taken the lead in talks to negotiate a peace treaty, while Moscow is embroiled in its military intervention in Ukraine.
Despite these Western mediation attempts, the situation remains unstable. In September, at least 286 people were killed in fresh clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
On Friday, Vladimir Putin invited Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to a new joint meeting in Russia, without setting a concrete date for the time being.
