Putin offers to mediate talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia on visit to Baku

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00:00Touching down in Baku on Sunday night, Vladimir Putin greeted by a host of Azerbaijani dignitaries

00:06before making his way to dinner with President Ilham Aliyev.

00:10It's the Russian leader's first visit to the caucuses since 2018.

00:15On Monday, time for official talks, high on the agenda, securing peace between Azerbaijan

00:21and Armenia.

00:22VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President-Elect Through Translator

00:23If we can help to secure a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, to take it to the

00:28delimitation and demarcation of the border, to unblock appropriate logistical and economic

00:34movements, we would be very glad to help.

00:37In 2020, the two countries fought a six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave

00:44within Azerbaijani territory that, for decades, had been ruled as a separatist republic by

00:50ethnic Armenians.

00:51Then, Azerbaijan, with Turkey's help, routed Armenian forces.

00:56In September 2023, Baku reconquered Nagorno-Karabakh decisively in a lightning offensive.

01:03Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are former Soviet states.

01:06Armenia in particular had counted on Moscow to keep the regional peace.

01:11But the Kremlin, distracted by its war in Ukraine, did little to intervene, leaving

01:15Yerevan feeling abandoned and increasingly turning towards the West for support, as its

01:20leaders feared further military action from the authoritarian Aliyev.

01:26The West, though, has been courting Azerbaijan as well, seeking to buy more of its natural

01:31gas, part of reducing Western reliance on Russian energy.

01:35Putin, thus eager to reassert Moscow's leading role in a region the Kremlin considers within

01:41its sphere of influence.

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