Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, during which the leaders discussed the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin press service reports.
"The parties continued to discuss the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, its further stabilization in accordance with the statements of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia dated November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021," the statement said.
It is noted that "in particular, the issues of ensuring peace, security and progressive socio-economic development of the region, as well as the progress of work on the restoration of transport communications were considered in detail." "The results of Russian-Armenian high-level talks in Moscow on April 7 were taken into account," the Kremlin stressed.
The press service added that the President's of Russia and Azerbaijan agreed "to intensify contacts in various formats."
On April 7, Putin held talks in the Kremlin with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during which they also spoke about Nagorno-Karabakh.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020, with active hostilities there. Baku and Yerevan have been disputing the region's ownership since February 1988, when it announced it was seceding from the Azerbaijani SSR.
Putin, Pashinyan and Aliyev signed a joint statement on November 9 on the complete cessation of hostilities in Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides halted their positions, a number of districts came under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor. After the peacekeepers were deployed, the situation stabilized, and tens of thousands of Karabakh residents, who had left their homes during the hostilities, returned with the support of the peacekeeping contingent.
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS