In a phone conversation, Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on his birthday and discussed how the agreements between Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia are being put into practice.

"The sides also touched upon the issues of the practical implementation of the trilateral agreements reached by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia related, in particular, to ensuring security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border," the statement read.

On December 23, President Putin wished his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev a happy birthday and praised him for his personal efforts to improve relations between the two countries. The corresponding telegraph was published on the Azerbaijani President's website.

Last September, the two presidents confirmed their intention to continue implementing the basic tripartite agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed on November 9, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021, as per the Kremlin.

It is worth noting that the situation in the South Caucasus is of interest to presidents Aliyev and Putin, who discussed efforts to improve relations between the two neighboring countries in the South Caucasus earlier.

Last February, Putin and Aliyev signed a broad cooperation agreement covering working together to restore all commercial and transportation linkages in the area, including passenger and freight flow between Azerbaijan and Armenia.