Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated that Azerbaijan will not participate in sanctions against Russia.
“We strongly support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and all countries,” he said, “but at the same time we have not and will not be a part of the anti-Russian sanctions campaign.” This statement was quoted by Russian Interfax and Azerbaijani news agency APA.
It is likely that Azerbaijan is abandoning sanctions in order to keep Russian capital in the country, as the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $4.1bn billion in 2023 and increased by 7% in the first six months of this year.
In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan on an official visit without any problems. He stated that investments of Russian companies in Azerbaijan amount to more than $ 4 billion. “More than 1,270 enterprises with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan,” Putin said.
This is not the first time Azerbaijan has gone against the decisions of other countries. In January 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided not to approve the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation. The decision, which imposed political sanctions on the Azerbaijani delegation, was supported by 76 deputies, 10 deputies voted against. According to this decision, the list of deputies sent from Azerbaijan will not be approved until Azerbaijan complies with the decision of the PACE regulations to allow PACE monitoring and election missions. Baku refuses to do this.
