Aliyev, Putin come together in Sochi for important discussions
Important regional and international issues were on the agenda of the meeting between President Ilham Aliyev and President Vladimir Putin, as they met in Sochi on July 21.
The meeting was not announced previously, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported about it at the last moment. In diplomacy it is accepted so that if the meeting is not announced, it means that it is planned to meet briefly in connection with some important issues.
It is past a long time since Putin and Aliyev met last time, what means many questions have accumulated in bilateral relations.
The subject of these discussions was not only bilateral relations, but also the complex of the geopolitical situation in the region and its assessment in a global context.
Baku and Moscow have many joint plans for the future, said President Putin, expressing his satisfaction to have the opportunity to discuss both the bilateral relations and the situation in the region.
“The situation in the region is complex. I hope that our meeting today will allow us to find ways of solving all difficult problems,” he said.
The very genre of the working meeting involved discussing a certain specific issue or issues for receiving or transmitting information and sharing assessments. The need for such contact appears only when there is mutual interest and a need to make an agreed decision.
It turns out that there is a situation that calls for personal intervention of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia. But what is the situation? There is no answer to this question, since the parties did not make explanatory statements following the results of the talks.
Analyzing the activities of Russian diplomacy in the Transcaucasian direction, it can be concluded that Moscow began to pay increased attention to the problems of security and stability in this region, as there is a real danger of systemic transfer of conflict from the Middle East to Transcaucasia.
Some experts claim that Azerbaijan's cooperation with Russia can solve many economic, political, regional and geopolitical issues. The heads of state certainly considered the issues of the international agenda, in particular coordinated possible actions of Moscow and Baku on resolving the Syrian problem, where Russia is one of the main players and Azerbaijan is an observer.
Another important topic of the talks was the development of cooperation in trilateral formats, such as Azerbaijan-Russia-Turkey and Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran, which became even closer recently, aiming to provide serious support to regional development.
The level of personal communication between the heads of the two states allows them to just meet unexpectedly, as it was on Friday evening during Russian leader’s vacation in Sochi, and discuss the agenda of bilateral relations as effectively as possible. This fact largely determines the level and quality of relations between the two states, which are currently at the highest level.
“Of course, we will also talk about how the bilateral relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation are developing. We have a great deal of works and joint projects for the future,” said the Russian leader.
President Aliyev, for his part, expressed his confidence that the meeting will give a good impetus to the development of friendly relations.
“We meet on a regular basis. These meetings give a good impetus to the development of our bilateral relations, which successfully continue. We are satisfied with the level, high level of our relations. We enjoy active cooperation in political, trade and economic, humanitarian areas. There are good prospects in the fields of transport and energy. Our relations are multifaceted, and cover almost all areas of our life. Of course, we need to regularly conduct consultations on important issues – regional affairs, global politics, bilateral relations and the strengthening of security in our region,” noted the Azerbaijani president.
No doubt, the main topic of the discussions between the two neighboring leaders was the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in view of the latest incident occurred in 400 meters from the frontline, when residents of the Alkhanly village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and her granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed as result of Armenian provocation.
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan are under the control of the Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Negotiations lasting for over 20 years have brought little progress in resolving the conflict, though a fragile truce has been in place.
Russia is one of the important cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group established to settle the NagornoKarabakh conflict, the main force in the region, and an important partner for Azerbaijan.
The northern neighbor is simply more active than other co-chairing countries such as France and the U. S., that’s why Azerbaijan is increasing the pressure.
Thus, Baku and Moscow once again made it clear that the strategic character of friendly and good-neighborly relations between the two countries is unshakable.
Modern relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are a great example of strategic partnership, when the positions of the two countries coincide on most of the key issues. Moreover, these relations are even stronger given the fact that they are based on mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation.
The legal framework of relations between the two countries includes more than 200 interstate, intergovernmental and interregional agreements. In addition, the economic factor is also important, as Russia is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan, and the development of mechanisms for regional cooperation in the trilateral format generally provides for the same approaches of the two countries to many issues.
The presidents' meeting in Sochi is of crucial importance in terms of discussing the bilateral and regional issues, and searching the ways of addressing the current complex problems in the region.
Proceeding from Moscow's actions, Baku places certain hopes on Russia not only as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair on the settlement of the NagornoKarabakh conflict, as well as the country, geographically and historically closely connected with the South Caucasus, but also as a strategic partner, relations with which have been tested over time.