The political scientist assessed the rapprochement between Azerbaijan and Ukraine

The Azerbaijani leadership is trying to attract Moscow's attention, so it is developing relations with Ukraine. This was stated by Nikolai Silaev, a leading researcher at the MGIMO Center for Caucasus and Regional Security, in an interview with Izvestia.

"The Azerbaijani leadership is trying to achieve its goals. First of all, he wants to hear new apologies from Russia for the crash of the AZAL airline plane, although apologies have already been made before. They also want the release of representatives of their diaspora, who were previously detained on charges of various serious crimes. Relations with Ukraine are one of the ways to attract Moscow's attention," he says.

The expert adds that in the future, Baku may announce the lifting of the embargo on the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

"The situation in the zone of the SVO (special military operation. Such a step is unlikely to have a serious impact. In the end, I don't think Russia will make any concessions. In fact, Azerbaijan cannot exert any noticeable pressure on Russia. I think Baku understands this, but they act by inertia, with some specific passion," says Silaev.

On October 2, on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev met with President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. According to the Ukrainian leader, the defense partnership was also discussed. The negotiations were conducted in English.

On August 30, Dmitry Kiselyov, Director General of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, called on Baku to release Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists. According to him, the journalists have been in custody for two months, and Baku has not had any questions about their professional activities.

Read more about the emerging rapprochement between Baku and Kiev in the Izvestia article.

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