Russia to mediate Azeri-Armenian talks over border

Putin also met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan separately in Sochi on Saturday and the three leaders will meet for tripartite talks later. Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh between 1988 and 1994. Since then there have been sporadic outbreaks of violence along the border between Azerbaijan and the Armenian-majority enclave but the fighting has intensified since the beginning of August, with a growing number of casualties. The last key agreement on a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was signed in Moscow in 2008. Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire in 1994 but never agreed a peace settlement and Nagorno-Karabakh is still unrecognized. The two countries have no diplomatic relations.