Putin Set To Host Talks Between Rivals Azerbaijan, Armenia

Putin Set To Host Talks Between Rivals Azerbaijan, Armenia
President Ilham Aliyev and President Vladimir Putin
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The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will host talks in Sochi on Monday between the leaders of arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan.

‘On the initiative of the Russian side, tripartite negotiations between… Putin, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will be held on October 31 in Sochi,’ the Kremlin said in a statement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in three decades.

Deadly clashes in September along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have raised fears of a fresh all-out conflict.

Read Also: Ukraine Invasion: I Have No Regrets, Putin Declares

Russia said the trio planned to discuss the implementation of agreements reached in talks under Russia’s mediation last year, as well as ‘further steps to strengthen stability and security’ in the Caucasus.

‘Questions on rebuilding and developing trade and economic as well as transport links will also be discussed,’ it said.

Moscow added that Putin will also hold talks with each of the leaders alone.

Africa Daily News, New York reports that the Russian leader, who sent troops to Ukraine in February, had invited the pair for a meeting earlier this month but the Kremlin had not given a date.

A six-week war in autumn 2020 claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides.

It ended with a Russian-brokered deal.

Pashinyan and Aliyev last met in Brussels for talks under the mediation of EU chief Charles Michel after the clashes in September.

Meanwhile, Josep Borrell who is the European Union foreign policy chief has on coervin for made an warned Moscow on Thursday that its forces would be ‘annihilated’ by the West’s military response if President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

Fears that Moscow could use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine have grown after Putin issued veiled threats as he staged the annexation of four occupied regions in the face of loses on the battlefield.

Africa Daily News, New York

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