Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev discussed the ongoing efforts to secure the ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region recently freed from armed conflict, the Kremlin said.

During a phone call on Saturday, the Presidents welcomed the launch of the joint Russian-Turkish centre “for monitoring the ceasefire and any military activities in the conflict zone”, said a statement.

Putin and Aliyev expressed hope that the centre’s efforts will contribute to the further stabilisation of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and the proper observance of the agreement reached by the two Presidents and the Prime Minister of Armenia in November 2020. “The two leaders also discussed some issues of Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral cooperation,” the Kremlin statement added.