Putin invites Azerbaijani & Armenian FMs to FRIDAY talks in Moscow, urges halt to ongoing hostilities in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been invited to take part in peace talks in Moscow on Friday so that a “humanitarian” ceasefire may be agreed in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

Putin called on all sides of the conflict to suspend hostilities “for humanitarian reasons” to allow for a prisoner swap and an exchange of bodies of those killed in the skirmishes, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The Russian president previously described the ongoing military face-off in the contested region as a “tragedy.”

The foreign ministers of both Armenia and Azerbaijan were invited to participate in “consultations” to further an armistice on Friday, October 9, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will act as a mediator.

The invitation came after Putin held several rounds of calls with both Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

In addition to its attempt to make the warring parties sit down for talks, Russia is involved in mediation efforts as part of the OSCE Minsk Group, tasked with ending the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. On Thursday, the group, which lists Russia, the US, and France as its co-chairs, convened in the Swiss city of Geneva. Moscow is set to host its next meeting on October 12, according to French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh – an Armenian-populated enclave inside what is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan – flared up on September 27, with Azerbaijan and Armenia accusing each other of being the instigator behind the new bout of heavy fighting. There have been casualties, including civilians, reported on both sides. 

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