Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed a number of issues pertaining to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during a phone call with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
One of these is the work of Russian peacekeepers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"The modalities the Russian peacekeepers' work in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have been looke into, as well as further steps to provide humanitarian assistance to the population," the report following two phone talks - on 23 November and 24 November - goes.
The countries' leaders also dwelled on major economic issues as well as the unblocking of transport communications in the region, the Kremlin added in a statement.
November Truce
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia signed a joint statement on 9 November stipulating ceasefire in the disputed land, which has been laid claims to by both Yerevan and Baku since the collapse of the Sopviet Union. The agreement put an end to the recent round of hostilities which resumed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on 27 September 2020. Under the provisions of the document, Russia, which acted as a mediating force, deployed its peacekeepers to the terrotory that was previously under Armenia's control in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). They were also dispatched to the Lachin corridor, which connects the NKR's capital Stepanakert with Armenia.
Yerevan and the Armenian-dominated NKR ultimately agreed to a number of territorial concessions: several districts of Karabakh - overall 121 settlements - were ceded to Azeris under the provisions of the deal.
Separately, the sides agreed to ensure the safe return of hitherto displaced locals, who left their homes when the conflict, which first emerged in the late 1980s, reignited in late September. The process is also to be overseen by the Russian peacekeeper contingent.
