INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Kremlin on Thursday hailed what it called very positive progress on preparing for peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan."The
progress on concluding such a document is a very, very positive fact and is welcomed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, while
acknowledging "this is a very, very lengthy process."Officials in the neighboring Caucasus countries said Thursday that they are preparing
for peace talks, after a flare-up last month in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region over which they fought a 2020 war.Armenia Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Wednesday in Brussels for rare talks mediated by the European Council
President Charles Michel.In 2020, the countries ended a war that claimed more than 6,500 lives with a Russian-brokered ceasefire
agreement.Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991
The ensuing conflicts claimed around 30,000 lives.
