Yuri Glushakov exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
These days one can see Russian navy sailors in Baku, who are watching the new beauties of the Azerbaijani capital. Residents and guests of the city can see the power of the Russian Navy from inside – the guided missile escort ship “Dagestan” and the small-size missile ship “Grad Sviyazhsk” which are moored near Flag Square.
It is notable that before radical changes to the territory of the new avenue and Flag Square in Baku, in Soviet times it was the base of the Caspian Fleet, a mooring area, and similar infrastructure. But we cannot return to the past, we can only remember it. Azerbaijani and Russian sailors have something to remember and discuss.
A detachment of the Russian Caspian Fleet headed by Commodore Valery Smirnov arrived in Azerbaijan on a friendly three-day visit. By October 19th, along with excursions, meetings and friendly football matches with Azerbaijani colleagues, sailors of missile ships will present their craft to Baku residents.
Such meetings are a good tradition of the Navies of the two countries. Last year battle ships of the countries visited each other as well. Close cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijani in the Caspian Sea has gained a stable military aspect. Military cooperation between the countries was discussed in details earlier this week during the official visit to Baku by the Defense Minister of Russia, Sergey Shoygu.
The head of the Defense Ministry was welcomed in Baku at the highest level as a dear friend who has contributed a lot to development of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. Baku remembers his direct support ofor establishing the Emergency Ministry of Azerbaijan in 2006-2007, the formation of its structure and material base, including helicopters for rescue activities. At the same time, in hot 2010, when the center of Russia was covered by fires, two helicopters from Azerbaijan helped the Russians to fight forest fires near Voronezh and Lipetsk.
During the meeting between Sergey Shoygu and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev it was noted that strong cooperation in all spheres, including the military sphere, was built between Azerbaijan and Russia. After the meeting the head of the Russian Defense Ministry and his Azerbaijani colleague Zakir Hasanov signed a plan of cooperation between the ministries in 2015. It requires extension of military and technical cooperation, holding joint battle exercises, and training of qualified staff. The sides paid special attention to security on the Caspian Sea and agreed to conduct joint military exercises between the Russian Navy and the Azerbaijani Navy next year.
The strategic partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan has gained new outlines in the military sphere. At the same time, nobody recalls the story with the Qabala Radar Station, as in reality its shutting-down appeared to be beneficial for both sides. Russia has no expenditures on the morally and physically outdated station, while Azerbaijan can state that there are no and will never be foreign military bases on its territory.
Meanwhile, the military and technical alliance of Russia and Azerbaijan is being strengthened by new military contracts on purchasing military vehicles. The total sum of them could reach $5 billion. According to General Hasanov, the plan which was signed by Shoygu requires purchasing modern weapons and vehicles made in Russia by Azerbaijan. Thus, Azerbaijan supports the Russian military industrial sector significantly, as it could suffer from sanctions launched against Russia by the EU, the U.S., and other countries.
Of course Azerbaijan hasn’t joined and won’t join Western sanctions against Russia, and it will help its strategic partner to minimize the damage.
However, there were negative views on Shoygu’s visit to Baku. They were voiced by Yerevan. It fears that Russia is building a military political union with Azerbaijan at the expense of its relations with Armenia. It seems Armenian politicians haven’t realized yet that the fact that they don’t want to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan and the continuing occupation of Azerbaijani regions cause more and more dissatisfaction of Moscow. Even American political scientists who know the Russian establishment well openly discuss it.
This week Ariel Coen, a well-known American expert on international affairs, has told ArmInfo that the Kremlin could “betray” the Armenian President, Serge Sargsyan. Referring to his sources in Moscow, Coen stated that Sargsyan irritates Vladimir Putin with his hard line. “Putin has to compensate for the conflict in Ukraine by settlement of the Karabakh problem. First of all, Azerbaijan should distance itself from the pro-Western position, and to achieve this, Armenia should withdraw from several regions of the Corridor (to Karabakh) and then agree on a final settlement of the issue. The strategic goal is Azerbaijan’s accession to the EAEU. Russia will have to return Karabakh to Azerbaijan for this, otherwise it won’t follow Moscow. Sargsyan and the Karabakh clan are an obstacle for the scenario,” the American expert says.
In this context, the activities of the Armenian opposition which is consolidated over the idea of a possible overthrow are considered in a different way, while horror stories about Azerbaijan which is equipped with Russian military vehicles and weapons are in fact directed against the Russian policy of supporting an effective balance of forces in the South Caucasus. Armenia fears that the need for an outpost in the South Caucasus has diminished. Modern politics demand different, direct decisions in the region from Moscow, and the close cooperation with Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey (especially through the Crimean issue) becomes more important than the nationalist striving of the Armenian elite. A new big game of Russia in the Caucasus is starting 200 years later…
