Russia's Putin hosts Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host talks with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, a month after the worst clashes erupted between the two countries since they went to war in 2020.

The summit with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Monday comes eight months into Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. 

The trio will meet on Putin's initiative in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Kremlin said they will focus on discussing the implementation of agreements reached in talks under Russia's mediation last year and "further steps to strengthen stability and security" in the region.

Putin will also hold talks with each leader alone, Moscow said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in autumn 2020 that claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides.

It ended with a Russian-brokered deal and saw Yerevan cede swathes of territory.

READ MORE: Can Azerbaijan and Armenia find lasting peace?

Slow peace process

Last month, 286 people from both sides were killed in clashes that have jeopardised a slow peace process.

The talks come as Western leaders get more involved in mediating the decades-long conflict.

EU chief Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron mediated talks between Pashinyan and Aliyev in Brussels in August.

Russia and EU leaders have traded criticism of their mediation efforts in the Karabakh conflict, with Moscow and Paris in particular exchanging jabs this month.

Putin recently dismissed a comment by Macron who said that Moscow was "destabilising" a peace process between the two countries.

"Russia has always sincerely sought to resolve any conflicts, including issues related to Karabakh," he said earlier this month.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives. 

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