Azerbaijan’s relations with Russia are based on mutual respect, reconciliation of interests and pragmatism. The main objective of the implemented joint projects is to expand the level of equal cooperation.
President Ilham Aliyev On October 7, he made another business trip to Russia. As part of the visit, the head of state held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and addressed the current state of interstate relations and the prospects for future mutual cooperation. The head of the country also attended the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow.
“Caspian” The newspaper published an article on the subject.
The interactions are intensive in nature.
It should be noted that mutual contacts between Russia and Azerbaijan at the highest level are intense. This fact is evident in bilateral relations. Vladimir Putin’s views on the current state of interstate relations during the meeting of Heads of State shed light on the depth and current state of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. “Relations are developing positively, we already said this during our visit to Azerbaijan: the volume of sales of goods is more than four times higher – 4.3 billion dollars. Our direct investments in the economy of Azerbaijan amount to more of four billion dollars. There are many good things and interesting projects in the field of energy and infrastructure development, all of them are promising, real, both bilateral and multilateral projects are relevant,” Putin said.
President Ilham Aliyev stated that, after Putin’s state visit, the dynamics of bilateral relations are quite visible: “Within the framework of the implementation of the decisions taken in Baku in August, there have already been many contacts at the level of representatives of various structures, among members of the government.”
The main condition of stability in our region.
As can be seen, Azerbaijan’s relations with Russia are based on mutual respect, reconciliation of interests and pragmatism. The main objective of the implemented joint projects is to expand the level of equal cooperation. The most important thing is that these projects serve the national interests of both countries. However, these interests do not clash, on the contrary, they coincide on many issues, both politically and economically.
In the context of current tense international relations, Baku having such relations with Moscow is actually the main condition for ensuring stability in the South Caucasus. Unlike other post-Soviet countries, Russian-Azerbaijani relations are not an obstacle to the development of our state’s relations with other power centers. On the contrary, it is a relationship that can be considered an example for many states. The fact that Baku has the same level of relations with various centers has turned Azerbaijan into a place where separate poles that are currently in a state of conflict or even war can come together and implement dialogue initiatives. Which we have witnessed many times. The peculiarity of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia is also that this cooperation is not directed against any state.
The result of a pragmatic policy
On the other hand, the pragmatic policy of the Azerbaijani leadership towards Russia played an important role in the unique solution of many difficult problems that our country has been facing for years. We saw this during the full restoration of our territorial integrity as a result of the 44-day war and, later, with the one-day anti-terrorist measures. Moscow officially declared at the highest level that Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan, and official Baku in 2020 managed to keep Russia out of the process as much as possible. In 2023, the roots of separatism were completely destroyed on the territory of Azerbaijan and the existence of the so-called regime, which is a nest of terror that threatens our national interests and sovereignty, was put to an end once and for all. After many years, the Azerbaijani flag was raised in Khankendi. As a logical result of this, the Russian peacekeeping contingent in our sovereign territories left Azerbaijan without problems and without causing difficulties. This fact in itself was an exemplary step.
There are no obstacles left
The joint declaration on strategic partnership signed between the two countries in 2022 and the first state visit of the Russian president to Azerbaijan in August this year are an indication that there are no serious obstacles or obstacles in the development of mutual relations. Azerbaijan is interested in developing mutual relations both at the interstate level and with individual regions of Russia, deepening economic cooperation and implementing joint projects.
BRICS summit approaching
And now a BRICS summit is coming up. Which will be held in Kazan on October 23 and 24. Azerbaijan has already officially applied for membership in this organization. At the last meeting of heads of state held a few days ago, Vladimir Putin invited his Azerbaijani counterpart to this summit. “We are waiting for you on October 23 and 24 in Kazan at the BRICS plus outreach events similar to the BRICS. I am sure that there will be useful meetings, it will be possible to work with all the leaders of the participating countries. Of course, we have many people who are trying to cooperate with the BRICS. We invite the country. Twenty-five of our colleagues have confirmed their participation, so it is always convenient to work on such platforms it will be possible to carry out negotiations on the full range of issues of interest to the participants. at this event. We are waiting for you in Kazan,” Putin said.
President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan is among 25 countries that have confirmed their participation.
Thus, in the last ten days of October, the broad agenda of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia will be discussed at the highest level.
