YEREVAN, May 31. /TASS/. Armenian and Russian Defense Ministers Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Sergey Shoigu held a telephone talk to discuss the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the press office of Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.
"The defense chiefs of two strategic allies discussed the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the ways of implementing the accords reached at a Moscow meeting last week to resolve it," the press office said in a statement.
As the Armenian Defense Ministry added, "the sides also touched upon the basic directions of the reforms launched in the Armenian Armed Forces, the Russian peacekeepers’ mission in Artsakh [the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] and also regional security and some issues related to joint actions," the statement says.
Shoigu and Harutyunyan held a working meeting in Moscow on May 28 where they discussed the issues of regional security, in particular, the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the area of the Gegharkunik and Syunik border regions has remained tense since May 12. Both sides are reporting about provocations. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that six Armenian servicemen were captured during an attempt by a reconnaissance and subversive group to cross into Azeri territory.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the Armenian servicemen had been captured but noted that they had been taken prisoner while carrying out engineering works in the border area of the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020 with intense battles in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 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.
Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, some districts passed over to Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh.