After his meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Sochi on Monday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia told reporters that the unresolved issues during the talks were “very delicate and sensitive,” without elaborating.

“Can I say something [about those issues]? I can, but I don’t think I should. If they remain unsettled, there is no need to draw extra media and public attention to them, we should simply try and agree on them in a calm manner, out of the public eye,” the TASS news agency reported Putin as saying, when asked about provisions of the trilateral statement adopted after the Sochi summit that could not be agreed by the sides.

“Those issues are very delicate and sensitive for both sides, and I don’t feel like I should reveal them without prior consent from our partners,” Putin said.

Putin said the joint statement adopted during the meeting had certain provision removed from the initial draft.

Touching upon the border demarcation and delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Russian leader stated: “Demarcation and delimitation of borders is the most important question. Indeed, we discussed it a lot today, and there have been certain prerequisites, [showing] that the path in general has been found.”

Putin added that Russia also is ready to provide its maps, compiled by the General Staff of the Soviet armed forces, in order to facilitate Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation.

“As we understand it, these maps are the most accurate,” Putin said. “And we are ready to move forward using them as a basis and discussing the matter with both sides. We have agreed with the sides that these contacts, these negotiations, these consultations would continue.”

Putin also said it is too early to speak about the basic elements of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that any such document should result from compromises from both sides.

“The peace treaty is not here yet, and it is too early to speak here about its basic elements, because it is a product of compromises, which should apparently be shown by both sides during a mediated effort, including with the participation of our country, if both sides want,” TASS quotes Putin as saying.

Commenting on the question that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan proposed to extend the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno Karabakh even for up to 20 years, the Russian leader said that they have discussed it, but added that a joint agreement is necessary for that.

“As far as the issue of peacekeepers is concerned, it is outlined in our joint statement dated November 2020, [issued] when the conflict was over. There is nothing to add here,” he said. “We have discussed it. But our joint agreement is necessary for that.”

In his words, the issue of extending the mandate depends on other issues, including a peace treaty and delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“If those issues are resolved, then the issue of peacekeepers will be a different matter. If they are unsolved, or resolved partially, then the future of our peacekeeping contingent will depend on that,” the Russian leader said, adding that Armenia and Azerbaijan “conveyed their words of gratitude to Russia” for its work in Nagorno Karabakh.