2024-04-25 21:35:04
The current level of Azerbaijani-Russian relations is an indicator of their strategic nature.
As Day.Az reports, Director General of the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies (Russia) Igor Korotchenko told Trend about this.
“Currently, relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are developing extremely successfully in all areas. This concerns politics, economics, interregional cooperation. In general, the basic foundation for relations between the two countries is the declaration of allied interaction, which was signed by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in 2022. This, of course, is the fundamental document in accordance with which Russian-Azerbaijani relations are being built today. Of course, their current level makes it absolutely clear that these are truly strategic, allied and partnership relations,” he noted.
According to him, today trade and economic cooperation between Moscow and Baku is actively developing.
“In this regard, we see no less impressive prospects ahead, including the possible participation of Russian companies and organizations in the restoration of Karabakh. I believe that there are a lot of Russian businesses willing to take part in this grandiose program. Of course, this will only benefit everyone for the benefit,” Korotchenko emphasized.
He mentioned that relations in the field of public and public diplomacy and expert interaction are also actively developing.
“In this regard, it must be emphasized once again that the value of Azerbaijan, which today is an authoritative player at the international level, in the eyes of Russia, of course, remains constant. And, of course, the personal relations of President Ilham Aliyev and President Vladimir Putin, time-tested and, let’s say, the very difficult current situation in the world suggests that we have a sense of mutual respect, and the development of our relations will benefit the peoples of the two countries,” he said.
Speaking about the current situation in the South Caucasus, Korotchenko noted that today new realities have been created in the region.
“They are that at the end of last year, Azerbaijan completely restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty during anti-terrorist measures. And the separatist regime that existed in Karabakh dissolved itself. As a result, the Armenian population living in Karabakh voluntarily decided to leave for Armenia, instead in order to reintegrate into Azerbaijani society. This was their own, free and voluntary choice. In this regard, of course, recording the changes that have taken place, today the Russian peacekeeping contingent is being withdrawn from Karabakh. Russian peacekeepers have fulfilled all the functions assigned to them with honor and dignity. with a tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020. Today they are leaving for Russia, and Azerbaijan will be fully involved in issues, including security and military security in Karabakh,” he added.
Korotchenko emphasized that today there is an active influence of Western players, primarily the USA, France and the European Union as a whole, who are trying to gain a foothold in Armenia.
“These are the negotiations that took place on April 5 in Brussels with the participation of Nikol Pashinyan, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the US State Department, Antony Blinken. But, in fact, this is also a new reality, when they are trying to make a Trojan horse out of Armenia that would act in the interests of NATO in the South Caucasus. And the goal and tasks of outside regional players are to destabilize the situation in the region, and also to try to prevent a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia from being concluded on fair terms. This is the practical policy of the West,” he said.
In his opinion, France is acting especially destructively, absolutely irresponsibly inciting Armenia to new military provocations.
“In addition, the French and Americans have already begun supplying their weapons to the Armenian army. This will also have an extremely adverse effect on the climate and the future of the region. In this regard, I think that it is extremely important for Moscow to act as an objective and honest mediator between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to still contribute to the speedy conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku on the terms of the five peace principles that were put forward at one time by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev,” Korotchenko said.
Noting the importance of the North-South transport corridor project for Russia, Korotchenko emphasized that for the national economy of Russia, which is under large-scale Western sanctions, the functioning and sustainable operation of this transport corridor is of paramount importance.
“At the same time, Russia also advocates that Armenia fulfill its obligations to open the Zangezur transport corridor, although we see that now Yerevan, with the support of the United States and France, categorically refuses to implement this project, although this is provided for in paragraph 9 of the trilateral statement on November 10, 2020, signed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said.
Igor Korotchenko noted that being responsible countries, Russia and Azerbaijan understand perfectly well that it is necessary to counteract negative trends that affect issues of security and stability in the South Caucasus.
“President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, before the start of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, emphasized that Russia plays a key role in ensuring security in the South Caucasus. In this regard, I think close coordination of at least four countries with interests in the South Caucasus is necessary This is Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran in order to block and prevent the deployment of full-fledged NATO military bases on the territory of Armenia, unfortunately, everything is moving towards this today. I draw your attention to the fact that, for example, in addition to freezing participation in the CSTO, Yerevan is also. calls into question the very nature of allied ties between Russia and Armenia. Russian border guards have already been withdrawn from Zvartnots. Ahead, obviously, similar measures will also be taken to curtail the Russian military presence on the territory of Armenia,” he said.
According to Korotchenko, in this regard, it is important that all countries in the region use all available opportunities to explain to Armenia that it should not turn into a conductor of Western interests, because this will only lead to chaos in the situation in the region and will have an extremely detrimental effect on security and economic prosperity of Armenia itself.
“In general, in Russia we closely followed the negotiations in the Kremlin. And once again we welcome the visit to Russia of President Ilham Aliyev, a great friend of our country, a reliable partner. By the way, one of the events that took place yesterday was a memorable evening dedicated to the 50th -anniversary of the start of work on the creation of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. As is known, the father of the current President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, being the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, played a key role in the successful implementation of this most important infrastructure mainline project of the Soviet Union,” he added.
Igor Korotchenko also mentioned that this was an occasion to once again pay tribute to the outstanding politician of our time, Heydar Aliyev, who is well remembered, loved, respected in Russia and who continues to enjoy enormous authority both among Russian railway transport workers and among Russian employees of state security agencies .
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