2024-04-29 18:39:24
When the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia met in the Kremlin on April 22, the topic was neither Karabakh, nor Ukraine, nor Iran. The official reason for the meeting was the 50th anniversary of the Baikal-Amur Highway (BAM), the construction of which began in 1974. At one time, the head of this project was Heydar Aliyev, who was the deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers at that time.
50 years later, the son of Heydar Aliyev, the current president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, meet with the veterans of BAM in Moscow. Putin calls the foundation of BAM the initial version of “turning to the East”, that is, getting rid of the economy dominated by the West.
Reporter of Radio Liberty Joshua Kuchera writes that the BAM event was a somewhat lame excuse. As noted by the Russian newspaper “Kommersant”, the main events related to the anniversary of the railway will be held in July.
Is Azerbaijan the winner?
“The fact that Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine two years ago had geopolitical consequences for the Caucasus, and Azerbaijan emerged victorious from almost all of these consequences in terms of its natural resources and strategic position.
Ukraine has made Azerbaijan more important than Europe. In order to get rid of Europe’s previous dependence on Russia, Azerbaijan needs both energy resources and its position on the west-east transit routes. Against the background of Western sanctions, Russia itself needs Azerbaijan’s position on the north-south transit routes even more acutely.
The difficulty of Russia’s work in Ukraine reduced its ability to uphold the Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020. Although 2,000 Russian peacekeepers are in the region, Azerbaijan was able to regain full control over Nagorno-Karabakh in September of last year by advancing in the regions inhabited by ethnic Armenians. This has led Armenia away from the path of relying on the traditional Russian security guarantee, opening the way for it to establish closer relations with the West.
Aliyev’s flight to Moscow coincides with the period when Azerbaijan’s star is at its brightest, and Russia’s position in the Caucasus is at its lowest. A week before Aliyev’s visit, two more events took place that showed the decline of Russia’s influence in the Caucasus.
First, Russia approved the withdrawal of peacekeepers from Karabakh. Earlier, it was agreed that their exit from Karabakh would take place in November 2025. Later, Armenia and Azerbaijan announced that they agreed to return some parts of the occupied territories to Azerbaijan without the intervention of any foreign forces, including Russia. Until now, Russia has played an important role in border demarcation issues,” the article says.
The author writes that none of these events were touched upon in the speeches of the two leaders. Instead, Aliyev and Putin discussed railways and other economic relations.
The economic agenda was in accordance with the interests of Azerbaijan, which wants to direct its affairs without the interference of any foreign power, including Russia.
Shaping new logistics?
The main project for Moscow is the North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC). This important road consists of rail, ship and land routes from Russia to Iran’s ports on the Iranian Gulf. The safest part of this road passes through Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan is the only country that has borders with both Russia and Iran and connects these two countries with railways.
Construction of the Ghazvin-Rasht-Astara railway within the framework of the “North-South” Transport Corridor initiative.
Although the INSTC has been discussed for a long time, it has become especially relevant against the background of the Ukrainian war and the West’s attempts to isolate Russia economically.
In May last year, Russia and Iran signed an agreement on the completion of the railway from Astara on the Iran-Azerbaijani border to the port of Rasht in the north of Iran. This is the last missing piece of railway on the road connecting St. Petersburg with the Persian Gulf.
In 2016, Azerbaijan agreed to partially finance this road together with Iran, and two years later, it put this project aside due to international sanctions against Iran. From now on, Russia will finance the construction of the Rasht-Astara line.
Putin has repeatedly spoken of INSTC as a key element of his plans to move the world economy away from Western dominance. The anniversary of BAM was an opportunity to emphasize this issue once again.
Freedom radio
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