President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday discussed the Karabakh conflict during a phone conversation that also touched on military tensions in Ukraine, as well as Turkey’s standoff in the Mediterranean.

The conversation comes two days after Putin met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Moscow, where the opening of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, as well as the release of Armenian prisoners of war were among the topics of discussion.

Putin also held a telephone call with Azerbaiijan’s president Ilham Aliyev on Thursday and briefed him on his meeting with Pashinyan.

According to a Kremlin statement, Erdogan praised Russia’s efforts to “further stabilize the situation” in the Karabakh conflict zone and ensure the implementation of Russian-brokered agreements that stopped last year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Putin also briefed Erdogan on his meeting with Pashinyan and telephone conversation with Aliyev, according to the Kremlin. The two leaders agreed on the “need to step up work on restoring the transport infrastructure in the South Caucasus,” added the statement.

Source: Agencies