Russian President Valdimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Sochi on Saturday.
The website of the Kremlin reports that the presidents discussed a number of bilateral and regional questions, with the highlight of the meeting being the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We have lots of bilateral and regional questions to discuss. Our relations are actively developing and we keep fostering them on both presidential and governmental levels. Of course, we will also discuss the longstanding and painful problem of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement," Putin said before the meeting.
Aliyev said that for Azerbaijan Russia is one of the key international partners. "Our cooperation covers lots of fields. Our trade and mutual investments are growing," Aliyev said.
He pointed out the need to discuss questions concerning security and stability in the region. "These questions are always on our agenda. We will also discuss ways to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno- Karabakh conflict. It has been unsettled for much too long a time already and needs to be resolved," Aliyev said.
Later in the day Putin is supposed to meet with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. On Sunday the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will hold a trilateral meeting.