ASTANA, Oct 15 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is participating in the Summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, invited the leaders of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and Armenia, Nikol Pashinian, to meet in Russia.
Putin stressed that the meeting can be held in any Russian city, anywhere, and at any time, with the aim of achieving a definitive peace between the two countries, according to TASS news agency.
Violent clashes were reported in mid-September on several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
This was the fiercest outbreak of hostilities in almost two years and occurred outside Nagorno Karabakh, a region with a majority of Armenian population over which Yerevan and Baku have fought several wars since their secession from what was then the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic in 1988.
The fighting left more than 200 dead and hundreds wounded on both sides.
Armenia requested support from Russia, to which it is linked by friendship, cooperation and reciprocal aid treaty, as well as from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance founded in 2002 that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border ceased on the afternoon of Sept 14th thanks to Russia’s mediation, but in the days that followed, both countries repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
