The Russian side expects that at the meeting of the leaders of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, and Armenia in Sochi, it will be possible to outline promising directions for the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS.

"Our expectations, like all people who live in these two countries, in Russia, in the South Caucasus region, are for the long-awaited peace and stability in the region to come sooner," he said.

"The meeting as a whole is aimed at summing up certain results of the past year after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire agreement on November 9 [2020], to see what has been done and what can be done next to advance the peace process, <...> how to advance further the process of normalization between the countries as a whole. We hope that at this meeting the leaders of the three countries that signed the agreement will outline these promising areas," Rudenko said.