“Putin stressed that Russia’s position has not changed: “We proceeded from the fact that we need to talk about the possibility of transferring five plus two regions to Azerbaijan with the provision of a certain regime of the Karabakh zone, its interaction with Armenia,” he explained.”
Writes a friend:
Artsakh is not contiguous to Armenia, there is a buffer that has been established by Armenian forces from the time of the war 30 years ago. Putin is saying to allow Azerbaijan to take control of this buffer, but retain some proper interaction for Artsakh with Armenia. This sounds like the situation in Germany when split between east and west. From West Germany, a highway went to West Berlin through East German territory. No off ramps or on ramps, to my understanding.
It could only work if both parties agree and if Russia agrees to guard the borders / highway. But if this has been the Russian position all along, who was against it? Armenia? Azerbaijan? The West?
