Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Tajikistan Thursday.

This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a long break. Putin and Aliyev had briefly met in September during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in China, but had not held a full discussion.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had noted the Russian party’s optimistic attitude ahead of the meeting between the leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan. He had added that the two presidents would be able to discuss all the issues that have accumulated in bilateral relations.