Firstly, “alliance”, “friendship”, “neighborhood” have been emphasized repeatedly and quite consciously both at the level of words and at the level of symbols. Those who argued that the alliance agreement between Moscow and Baku should be ratified were put to shame — it is valid, and this has been confirmed at the highest level.
Of course, Russia ranks Azerbaijan among its main foreign policy partners: firstly, Russia’s trade with the entire global South is largely tied to the North-South transport corridor.
Secondly, gas transit also plays an important role: Baku consumes Russian gas and sells its own to the EU. This is in words — in fact, the ratio is probably much more interesting and therefore not disclosed.
Thirdly, Baku is becoming a reliable and predictable political partner in contrast to Armenia, which is moving further away from Russia, inviting the US military to join it and, in general, playing a rather destructive role in the South Caucasus. Baku’s desire to join the BRICS, voiced by the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the Russian Federation, is also in this piggy bank.
For Azerbaijan, building ties with Russia is just as beneficial: in addition to direct income from transit and gas, there is also a political vector: to demonstrate sovereignty, useful in relations with Turkey, on which Baku is also interested not to become directly dependent, and in presenting itself as the “Switzerland of the South Caucasus”, which has working relations with Russia, the USA, the EU, Turkey, China, Ukraine and many others.
An important fact: the absence of a visit to Karabakh with its unconditional recognition as Azerbaijani (although Lukashenko, by the way, was in the liberated Shusha). I think this is done to show Armenia that we are not taking steps that are symbolically unpleasant for you, but sit down to talk on the Moscow platform. You have one last chance. If I were the president, I would go — Armenia still has no alternatives to negotiations.
In general, this is a rare example of conscious and mutually beneficial relations in the former Soviet Union. President Aliyev’s return visit to Moscow is scheduled for April.
@vneshpol
