YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. On March 11 and 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin had telephone conversations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin’s official website reported.
It said Putin discussed with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders the practical modalities of the implementation of the agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh, fixed in the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021.
‘It was noted with satisfaction that the ceasefire regime is strictly observed, and the situation in the region remains generally stable and calm. Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan praised the effective actions of the Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed on the line of contact and along the Lachin corridor,” the kremlin.ru said.
It is noted that the three leaders also touched upon issues related to unblocking economic and transport links in the South Caucasus. In this context, the activities of the Working Group co-chaired by the vice-premiers of the three countries were assessed as positive.
An exchange of views was held on topical issues of Russian-Azerbaijani and Russian-Armenian cooperation.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the parties stopped at where they were at that time. The town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. Internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to Karabakh and adjacent regions, prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and bodies of the dead are being exchanged.–0-