The two presidents spoke following the violent breakup of a protest by Azerbaijani labor migrants in Dagestan. Details of a possible diplomatic resolution of the situation have been scant, however.
The labor migrants are trying to return home after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions are rising, and a protest on the border has been violently broken up by Russian police.
Eight years ago, the Azerbaijani government tried to make a hero out of a soldier who killed an Armenian soldier in his sleep. But now it wants to drop the subject.
This newest escalation of the history wars threatens to drag the Caucasus into the larger post-Soviet struggle over the memory of World War II that has poisoned ties between Russia and many of its neighbors.
Some hard talk from the Russian foreign minister has led to recriminations in Yerevan and the prospect of Azerbaijan’s foreign minister getting sacked.
Armed forces on both sides appear not to have made many concessions to the need to social distance, but diplomats have held their first videoconference as part of the ongoing peace negotiations.
At least 16 opposition activists have been arrested since the outbreak began, and human rights groups accuse the government of taking advantage of the pandemic.
