Putin: Crimes against Armenians in Sumgait, Karabakh resulted in conflict

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has ethnic origins.

"Unfortunately, the fact is that violent crimes were committed against the Armenian people in Sumgait, and later in Nagorno-Karabakh. We must take all this into account in a complex," Putin told a forum with Valdai Discussion Club.

At the same time, he believes that "the situation where a significant part of the territory of Azerbaijan has been lost cannot continue forever."

According to Putin, Armenia and Azerbaijan are "equal partners" to Russia, and that he speaks with both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev several times a day.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey and Syrian and Libyan mercenaries deployed by Ankara, started a war against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. Foreign and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages.