Russia (bbabo.net), Vladimir Putin is holding talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today. This is the first international meeting of the Russian leader after the adoption of the historic decision on the DNR and LNR.

"You know that yesterday Russia decided to recognize the sovereignty of the two people's republics of Donbass," the Russian leader said right at the beginning of the conversation. Putin noted that he foresees speculation on this topic that Russia is going to restore the empire within imperial borders. "This is absolutely not true," the President of the Russian Federation stressed.

Putin noted that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia recognized all the new geopolitical realities and actively worked to strengthen interaction with all independent states that emerged in the post-Soviet space. "Even in acute, very acute situations, which is, say, the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, we have always acted very carefully, proceeding from the interests of all the states involved in this process, and have always tried to achieve mutually acceptable solutions," the Russian president said.

But after the coup d'état in Ukraine, interaction of this level with this country disappeared. "I want to emphasize: it was after the coup d'état and the illegal seizure of power by those who did it," the president said.

Putin added that the territory of Ukraine is now being used by third countries to create threats against the Russian Federation itself. "That's just the point," he said.

As a positive example of Russia's cooperation with the post-Soviet countries and the protection of their sovereignty, Putin cited Kazakhstan. "I just spoke with the President of Kazakhstan before your visit today. I think this is the second very good example of the fact that Russia only supports the sovereignty of our neighbors and strengthens it in every possible way," the Russian leader emphasized.

Putin recalled that at the request of the leadership of Kakhanstan, the country was supported within the framework of the CSTO in connection with the external aggression of international terrorism. "And, as soon as this problem was gone, at the request of the leadership of Kazakhstan, we withdrew all our Armed Forces within the framework of the CSTO contingent and continue to cooperate with Kazakhstan in all areas of work, which, of course, benefits both Russia and Kazakhstan and strengthens the sovereignty of Kazakhstan ", Putin said.

Russia will continue to act this way in relation to all its neighbors, the president promised.

bbabo.Net