SOCHI, November 1. /TASS/. Russia is ready to provide "most accurate maps," compiled back in the Soviet era, in order to facilitate Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Monday.
"We are ready to provide our maps, compiled by the General Staff of the Soviet armed forces. As we understand, these maps are the most accurate," Putin said.
"And we are ready to move forward using them as a basis and discussing the matter with both sides. We have agreed with the sides that these contacts, these negotiations, these consultations would continue," Putin said.
The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020. On November 9, 2020, Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities. The sides stopped at their positions at that moment, a number of districts went under Baku’s control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed at the contact line and at the so-called Lachin corridor.
As a follow-up to the settlement process, they met in Moscow on January 11, 2021, when a new joint statement was inked, which, in particular, provided for unblocking economic and transport communications in the region. In addition, an agreement was reached to set up a trilateral working group co-chaired by deputy prime ministers to tackle this task and others.