Dawn, Pakistan
Aug 10 2014
Putin begins effort to defuse Armenia, Azerbaijan tensions
By AFP
MOSCOW: Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin began talks on Saturday with
the leaders of arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan after recent clashes
that have left 22 soldiers dead and fuelled fears that one of the
bloodiest post-Soviet wars is restarting.
Putin held separate talks at his residence in Russia’s southern Black
Sea resort town of Sochi with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and
Serzh Sarkisian of Armenia. A trilateral meeting was due to be held on
Sunday.
“We will no doubt talk about the most painful and chronic problem of
resolving the Karabakh,” Putin was quoted as saying by Interfax news
agency at the start of his meeting with Aliyev.
Nagorny Karabakh, a region mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, broke
away from Azerbaijan with the help of Armenia in a war that claimed
some 30,000 lives between 1991 and 1994.
The conflict has been festering ever since, with international
mediators unable to find a political solution and both countries
remaining on a war footing.
The brittle status quo along the so-called line of contact between the
two sides has been shattered in recent weeks. At least 22 soldiers
have been killed in the fiercest clashes since a ceasefire was agreed
in 1994.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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