MOSCOW, September 18/TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone calls on Sunday with the Kyrgyz and Tajik presidents, Sadyr Japarov and Emomali Rahmon, calling on the parties to prevent further escalation on the border.
According to the Kremlin press service, the presidents "discussed the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border". "Putin urged the sides to prevent further escalation and to take measures to resolve the situation solely through peaceful, political and diplomatic means as soon as possible," the Kremlin noted.
"[Vladimir Putin] confirmed Russia's readiness to provide the necessary assistance with an aim to ensure stability in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border region," it said following the telephone conversations on the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
The parties "agreed to continue contacts," the press service said.
Tensions on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan escalated on September 14. Clashes between the border guards of both countries with the use of heavy weapons resumed along the perimeter of the shared border on Friday morning. On Friday, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon held talks on the sidelines of a SCO summit in Samarkand and agreed to a ceasefire. However, fighting resumed in the evening of the same day and continued on September 17 at certain sections of the common border.
