The US Secretary of State phoned his Russian counterpart on Sunday to congratulate the Russian people on Victory Day.

President Putin paid tribute to the sacrifices of Soviet troops during World War Two. He also thanked "the people of Great Britain, France and the United States for their contribution to victory".

A full dress rehearsal of the traditional military parade took place on Red Square on Thursday in the presence of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russian wholehearted endorsement of the "genocide agenda" creates problems for Turkey's narrative in describing genocide recognition as a western conspiracy.

Georgia has summoned the Armenian Ambassador following meeting between Chairman of Armenian Parliament and South Ossetian official. In this op-ed Dennis Sammut discusses tensions in Georgia's relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

68,915 voters cast their vote in Sunday's election. The Azerbaijani population of Karabakh was displaced by the conflict in the early 1990s and did not vote in the poll.

101,653 voters will elect 33 deputies from among 206 candidates to form the parliament in the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

Guluzade was one of the architects of Azerbaijani foreign policy after independence in 1991, and was chief Karabakh negotiator until 1999.

In a statement the co-Chair said that they hoped for a meeting between the Presidents by year end, but dismissed impact of Karabakh elections on the peace process.

Diplomatic activity intensifies in an effort to re-start the Karabakh peace process.