Putin to host leaders of adversaries Armenia and Azerbaijan

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to help broker a settlement to a conflict between the two ex-Soviet neighbors. Putin’s talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were scheduled to take place at the Russian leader’s Black Sea residence in Sochi on Monday. The Kremlin said Friday that the leaders will discuss the implementation of a 2020 Russian-brokered peace deal and “further steps to enhance stability and security.” The neighbors have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.