BAKU, November 2./TASS/. The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia, Jeyhun Bayramov and Sergey Lavrov, discussed the implementation of agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh and issues of unblocking transport communications in the region in their phone call on Tuesday, the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
"A telephone conversation between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was held on Tuesday. The sides discussed the implementation of trilateral statements [on Karabakh], including the activity of the working group for opening transport communications," it reported.
The top diplomats exchanged views on the current developments in the region and "emphasized the importance of developing cooperation platform in the 3+3 format with the participation of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Iran." A number of issues on the bilateral agenda were also discussed, the press service said.
Intense clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, in Nagorno-Karabakh. 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 the conflict zone, which facilitated a complete cessation of hostilities. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, while several regions came under Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the contact line and the Lachin Corridor.
On January 11, 2021, the three leaders agreed to set up a working group co-chaired by the country’s deputy prime ministers that would be tasked to focus on reviving transport and economic ties in the region.
The initiative of a six-party format of cooperation on Nagorno-Karabakh was earlier put forward by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Ilham Aliyev and Tayyip Erdogan. Iran welcomed the idea, saying it was ready to facilitate the moves towards the strengthening of peace in the region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia was working with Armenian counterparts and that it hoped that Georgia would take an interest in this mechanism.
On October 8, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said that Tbilisi should be somehow represented in the new negotiation format, despite the current disagreements with Russia. His words drew a strong rebuke from the opposition.