Putin to meet with leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan

The meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, and Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, also takes place eight months after Putin launched his offensive in Ukraine, which has alarmed some of Russia's friends.

Putin's effort will bring the group together in Sochi, a vacation city on the Black Sea.

The Kremlin stated that the discussions would center on "additional actions to promote stability and security" in the region as well as the fulfillment of agreements made during negotiations mediated by Russia last year.

According to Moscow, Putin will also meet with each leader separately.

In the autumn of 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in a six-week conflict that resulted in the deaths of over 6,500 soldiers on both sides.

In the end, an agreement mediated by Russia saw Yerevan give up large portions of its territory.

286 people from both sides were killed in skirmishes last month, endangering the tentative peace process.

The negotiations take place as Western leaders get more actively involved in settling the protracted crisis and as Moscow's military concentrates on Ukraine.

Meetings between Pashinyan and Aliyev were facilitated by EU Commissioner Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron in Brussels in August.

Leaders of Russia and the EU have criticized one another's efforts to mediate the Karabakh conflict, with Moscow and Paris in particular trading barbs this month.

Putin recently denied Macron's assertion that Moscow was "destabilizing" the two-country peace process.

He stated earlier this month that "Russia has always truly worked to resolve any crises, including issues relating to Karabakh."

The Sochi negotiations appear to be an attempt by Russia to regain control over the issue; historically, Moscow has served as a go-between for the two nations, who were both once a part of the Soviet Union.