MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have begun trilateral talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Moscow. The meeting was initiated by the Russian leader.
The Kremlin press service said earlier that the parties planned to discuss the implementation of their November 9 statement on Nagorno-Karabakh and consider future steps to resolve the region’s issues. Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan are also expected to touch upon the need to provide assistance to locals affected by military activities and boost trade, economic and transport ties. The talks mark Putin’s first international meeting of 2021 and his first face-to-face meeting with foreign leaders in the past two months.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over the disputed territory, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said that Azerbaijan and Armenia would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. However, the statement does not include provisions concerning the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.