At a trilateral meeting in Sochi with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a lot has been accomplished in a year, as there were no large-scale hostilities in Karabakh, which in itself is a very good thing. He also stressed that this meeting aims to avoid serious incidents in the region in the future.

The Russian President noted that within the said year, and with the help of Russia, a lot has been done regarding the return of refugees, adding that 53,000 have indeed returned to their permanent residences, and a good monitoring group has been created.

Putin added that unfortunately not all issues have been settled so far, citing tragic incidents that occurred on the border, killing and wounding people from both sides, which requires immediate attention.

Aliyev: We are ready to start the border demarcation urgently

For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the tripartite meeting that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not yet been demarcated, reiterating his country’s readiness to begin the process of border demarcation in the nearest time possible.

Aliyev expressed his country's appreciation for Russian support, including advisory support.

The Azerbaijani President noted that he made an offer to the Armenian side to start work on a peace treaty in order to end the confrontation, to recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other, and to learn how to live with each other as neighbors in the future again.

It is worth noting that after several rounds of border confrontations, Armenia and Azerbaijan reach a Russian-mediated truce after about 3 days of border tension between the two countries.

Clashes between the armies of the two countries have renewed on the border in the Nagorno-Karabakh region a few days ago, resulting in human losses, especially from the Armenian side.