Over the weekend, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held separate phone calls with the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev.
On Saturday (9 April), Putin and Pashinyan discussed the results of the 6 April meeting between the Armenian PM and the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, which took place in Brussels and which was mediated by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
During their discussions, the Russian and Armenian leaders were quoted as attaching importance to the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and to the commencement of the delimitation work on the shared Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Putin re-iterated Russia’s readiness to assist in this area.
The two leaders also touched upon the recent allegations of Azerbaijani incursions into the Russian military contingent’s area of responsibility. Pashinyan reportedly stated that he expected the Russian forces to take concrete measures to ensure the full withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops. Earlier this month, Yerevan had called for an internal investigation into the actions of the Russian forces, but this idea appeared to have been dismissed by Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, during his meeting with his Armenian counterpart last week.
Finally, Putin and Pashinyan exchanged views the economic partnership between their countries, and agreed to explore these links in more detail during the Armenian prime minister's upcoming visit to Russia, which is scheduled for 19 April.
On Saturday, Putin also called Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev to discuss Russian-Azerbaijani relations. The two leaders also exchanged views on the 6 April meeting, and Aliyev recalled the 5-point peace proposal which Baku had sent Yerevan, stating that the Armenian side has accepted these principles.
Putin and Aliyev also noted the importance of establishing a working group to draft a peace agreement, of establishing a commission to demarcate the borders, and of the activities of a working group between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia aimed at opening transport communications. The sides also discussed a series of other bilateral issues, and reaffirmed the importance of continued close collaboration in these sectors.