Dmitry Medvedev Says Armenia and Azerbaijan Learnt Lessons from Russian-Georgian War

MOSCOW, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS:

Russia's activity of 2008 in South Ossetia aimed at forcing peace to Georgia, "became a serious lesson" for Armenia and Azerbaijan, RF President Dmitry Medvedev stated in an interview with Russia Today TV, Georgian First Information Caucasian Channel and "Echo of Moscow" Radio.

"When it (the five-day war) took place, the heads of the two states – both President Aliev and President Sargsyan – visited Sochi. You know what they told me? They said: "Of course, it is very bad this all happened, for Caucasus it is a serious matter". I said: "That is very bad. But you know this is a certain lesson for us, as it is better to conduct endless negotiations on the future of the Nagorno Karabakh, the referendum there, the way of developing a peace agreement, than to exercise those five days of the war. That was a very serious lesson for us," Medvedev said.

"Let us go back to what happened at that time. If our Georgian counterpart were a little bit cleverer, we would probably have this very meeting in Sochi, Kazan or elsewhere and think over the ways of finding concessions in the relations of former parts of one state, now Georgia and separated parts," Russia's president said.

He says it is not certain what the prospects of such talks will be: "maybe an agreement would never be reached, something might work, maybe some confederation would be established." "And he (the Georgian president) just torn the country into pieces," Medvedev stated.