"I know this is a thorny issue for both Azerbaijan and Armenia. We will strive to achieve one thing, we will strive to ensure that Armenia and Azerbaijan find a compromise solution that is acceptable for both sides," Putin said at a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, when the autonomous region left the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and proclaimed independence after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The secession triggered a war that lasted until a Russia-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1994.
On April 2, tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani breakaway region with a predominantly Armenian population, escalated. Baku and Yerevan accused each other of provoking the hostilities, however, the sides succeeded in reaching a ceasefire agreement on April 5, which has been followed by near-daily reports of truce violations.
