MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. The talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan concluded in Moscow. The trilateral meeting in the Kremlin lasted nearly four hours.

 

It was reported earlier that Putin would also hold bilateral talks with his Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues.

 

The trilateral talks were held behind closed doors, with the exception of Putin’s statement at the start. The Russian leader noted that Moscow values partner and good-neighborly relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia, thanking his colleagues for the positive assessment of Russia’s efforts as a mediator of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire. Putin stated that the agreements reached in November 2020 are implemented consistently, creating the necessary preconditions for long-term and full-fledged Nagorno-Karabakh regulation on a just basis in the interest of both Azerbaijani and Armenian nations.

 

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but 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. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

 

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 the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed.