Putin pressed on the importance of implementing the 2020-2022 agreements that were signed between Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Putin asked the Armenian leader to implement the terms of the agreement, and focused on the issues "related to security and stability on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, restoring economic and transport ties in the North Caucasus and preparing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan."
"In addition, some topical issues of bilateral relations were touched upon," Russian President Putin's press service reported."
Armenian government's press service released a statement, noting that Pashinyan and Putin discussed unblocking transport communications in the South Caucasus. The two leaders, it said, last spoke on March 16 in a telephone conversation between the Russian president and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. Prior to the Soviet Union's collapse, the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory, was a part of Azerbaijan. In February 1988, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and the Nagorno-Karabakh, populated by ethnic Armenians, has since been under dispute about who claims the territorial sovereignty in the region. Russia has acted as a mediator in resolving the tense situation, clashes between troops of Baku and Yerevan, and negotiating a ceasefire. In November 2020, a statement on the full cessation of hostilities negotiated by Moscow in Nagorno-Karabakh was adopted that has since been violated.
