Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held face-to-face talks for about two hours on June 4 in St. Petersburg, Russia, raising hopes for positive movement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Officials from both countries provided no details about the substance of the presidential discussion. Earlier, Russian officials sought to dampen expectations that the latest round of direct discussions between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents would make much progress toward a peace settlement. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"We have not set for ourselves the utmost goal of preparing new agreements or in-depth discussion of this process," Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying. "We are trying to support the format of direct contact between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia."