Putin seeks military ties with Azerbaijan

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has called for closer military cooperation with Azerbaijan.

On the second day of his visit, Mr Putin said such cooperation reflected their joint security interests and was not directed against third countries -- a reference to Azerbaijan's rival, Armenia.

Addressing parliament in Baku, Mr Putin also offered Russian help in brokering peace talks with Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and to act as a guarantor of any agreement between the two states. Mr Putin is the first Russian president to visit Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Baku has accused Moscow of siding with Armenia and supplying it with large quantaties of military equipment -- a charge Moscow has denied.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service