Azerbaijan Takes Control of Four Villages on Border With Armenia as Part of Deal

Representation photo: A still image taken from a handout video made available by the Russian Defense Ministry Press-Service shows the beginning of the process of withdrawal from Azerbaijan of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh, Kalbajar district, Azerbaijan, 17 April 2024.
Representation photo: A still image taken from a handout video made available by the Russian Defense Ministry Press-Service shows the beginning of the process of withdrawal from Azerbaijan of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh, Kalbajar district, Azerbaijan, 17 April 2024.
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Azerbaijan Takes Control of Four Villages on Border With Armenia as Part of Deal

Representation photo: A still image taken from a handout video made available by the Russian Defense Ministry Press-Service shows the beginning of the process of withdrawal from Azerbaijan of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh, Kalbajar district, Azerbaijan, 17 April 2024.
Representation photo: A still image taken from a handout video made available by the Russian Defense Ministry Press-Service shows the beginning of the process of withdrawal from Azerbaijan of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh, Kalbajar district, Azerbaijan, 17 April 2024.

 

Azerbaijan's border service has taken control of four villages in the Gazakh district on the border with Armenia under an agreement struck with Yerevan, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said on Friday.
The size of the territory returned to Azerbaijan under a border delimitation agreement on Friday was 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 square miles), Mustafayev said.
In April, Armenia said it would return the uninhabited villages to Azerbaijan, which both sides said was a milestone on the road towards a peace deal between Yerevan and Baku who have clashed for more than three decades, reported Reuters.
The decision by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to hand over the four villages has triggered protests, with demonstrators calling for him to step down over what they cast as a betrayal.
Azerbaijan's retaking by force of the entirety of its Nagorno-Karabakh region in September last year, a move which sparked an exodus of ethnic Armenians living there, dealt a painful blow to Yerevan.
But it has also paved the way for an elusive deal in that it removed a long-running source of disagreement from the table.
Azerbaijan and Armenia still have other unresolved territorial disputes though, mostly focused on enclaves which the two sides want the other party to relinquish control of or provide access to.
 



Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
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Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ruling out talks with Ukraine, but guarantees will be needed to ensure the credibility of any negotiations, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Sunday.

More than 90 countries took part in a two-day event at the Buergenstock resort in central Switzerland aimed at uniting global opinion on how to end Moscow's 27-month-old invasion.
Russia was not invited to those talks.

Kyiv's positions have been taken into consideration in the final communique for the summit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday.

"The text is balanced, all of our principled positions on which Ukraine had insisted have been considered," he told reporters.

Kuleba also hinted that Russia could be involved in a future summit but dismissed Putin's demand on Friday that Kyiv cede four regions of Ukraine that Russia has occupied and drop its goal of joining NATO.