Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the initiative of the Russian side, Trend reports with reference to Putin's official website on April 5.

During the phone talks, the sides discussed in details the latest developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

Expressing serious concern over the large-scale armed clashes, which have led to numerous casualties, Putin called on the both sides to urgently ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and observe the ceasefire.

It was stressed that Russia is taking and will continue to take the necessary intermediary steps aimed at promoting the normalization of the situation.

The parties also stressed the importance of resuming the negotiation process between Baku and Yerevan with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group to find the ways for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The presidents agreed to continue contacts in different formats.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it.

The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3.

The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5.

The Azerbaijani armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the retaken areas, Defense Ministry reported.