Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev meet in Kremlin ahead of CIS summit

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has begun in Moscow.

The talks are taking place on the sidelines of the CIS summit. Normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations tops the agenda.

What did Vladimir Putin say?

The Russian head of state noted the positive development of relations between Moscow and Baku at a meeting with Ilham Aliyev.

"Last night we informally touched upon the current status of our relations. I want to note at once that relations are developing positively," Putin said

The Russian leader noted that Russia-Azerbaijan relations are developing positively.

“I would like to emphasize that relations are developing positively; we noted this during the visit to Azerbaijan: over $4.3 billion in trade turnover, more than $4 billion in direct investments in the Azerbaijani economy, and many good, interesting projects in both the energy sector and infrastructure development. These are all promising; these are all real, viable projects, both bilateral and multilateral,” Vladimir Putin said.

Putin noted he expects Ilham Aliyev at the coming BRICS summit in Kazan in late October.

What did Ilham Aliyev say?

Ilham Aliyev once again congratulated Vladimir Putin on his birthday.

"After your state visit to Azerbaijan in August, the dynamics of our bilateral relations have been quite noticeable. There have been many contacts already at the level of representatives from various authorities and government members, in addition to the decisions reached in August in Baku," Ilham Aliyev said.

The Azerbaijani leader said the projects planned between Azerbaijan and Russia require constant attention and oversight, noting that the meeting with Vladimir Putin provides a good opportunity to revisit the agenda and determine specific steps to implement the agreements reached between the two countries.

Today, Putin will also hold talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Earlier, aide to the Russian President Yury Ushakov said that the Russian leader will hold only bilateral meetings - with Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The Russian leader's aide clarified that Moscow was not against the trilateral format.

“No agreement on a trilateral meeting has been reached. There was such an idea, but someone did not support it,” Ushakov said.