The visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Azerbaijan has attracted increased attention in Yerevan. In the midst of the traditionally quiet holiday season, the Baku summit became one of the main events of the summer, where the "Armenian theme" was discussed in detail and comprehensively.
Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's readiness to facilitate the signing of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku promised to inform Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about the results of the negotiations. Such statements confirmed the Kremlin's desire to maintain the role of mediator in the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process, despite the fact that the Yerevan authorities prefer to ignore this circumstance.
The results of the visit demonstrate the strengthening of Russian-Azerbaijani ties in various fields. Economic cooperation between the countries continues to grow: trade turnover in 2023 reached $ 4.3 billion, an increase of 17.5% compared to 2022.
Agreements on the development of partnership in the fields of health, education, science and ecology were signed. In addition, the joint construction of tankers for the transportation of petroleum products was announced, which should help increase the supply of energy resources to world markets.
Special attention was paid to transport projects. The implementation of the North—South project, which will connect Russia with Iran through the territory of Azerbaijan, opening up new opportunities for trade and economic cooperation, was discussed.
The possibility of using the Southern Gas Corridor to supply Russian gas to Europe was also considered, which could have significant geopolitical consequences.
In the geopolitical aspect, the visit of the Russian leader demonstrated the desire to The Russian Federation will strengthen its position in the region and maintain its role as a mediator in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Russia expressed support for Azerbaijan's status in the SCO and its interest in cooperation with BRICS. Strengthening economic ties between Moscow and Baku can have significant results for the balance of power in the South Caucasus. The development of transport projects, especially in the energy and logistics sectors, can change the geo-economic picture of the region, experts say.
According to Stanislav Pritchin, head of the IMEMO Central Asia Sector, in the current conditions it is extremely important for Moscow to demonstrate its presence in the region and maintain the intensity of political dialogue with the Transcaucasian republics.
Armenian political analyst Suren Surenyants believes that Putin and Aliyev could have reached certain agreements, which the Russian president intends to inform the Armenian Prime Minister about.
According to Surenyants, Aliyev had previously achieved from Pashinyan agreed to direct negotiations without intermediaries and is hardly interested in returning to the Moscow platform. However, the expert believes that Aliyev will not openly reject Russian mediation, given Pashinyan's anti-Russian position.
Surenyants also noted that regional countries, and first of all Russia, can be the most effective mediators in the process of settling Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. At the same time, he stressed that this opinion is not related to any geopolitical preferences.
Political analyst Hakob Badalyan suggests considering Putin's visit to Baku in a broader regional context. He believes that Russia's main goal at this stage is to weaken Turkey's influence in the region. This assumption is supported by the recent meeting of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister with the Turkish ambassador in Moscow, where the Russian side called on Ankara to abandon the "destructive policy of the collective West."
And in conclusion, a slightly emotional comment from the Armenian Telegram channel "Comrade General" about the completed visit of the Russian leader to Baku and Yerevan hysteria:
"WITH A CRAZY MAN IN HIS HEAD AND A THIRST FOR REVENGE...
The main result of Putin's state visit to Baku, as applied to Armenia, is a convincing demonstration of how Nikol Pashinyan's inherent political schizophrenia has spread to the entire Armenian thinking class and to propagandists as the main agents in the difficult task of forming opinions.
The most striking example is the hysteria caused by the fact that Putin visited the so—called Alley of martyrs. Putting aside the arguments that this is a mandatory item in any state visit, let's dismiss the fact that representatives of all countries considered pro-Armenian, including France, have visited there in recent years. Let's not talk about it.
We need to talk about something else. That one hemisphere of the brain of the collective Armenians perceives reality from the point of view of Nikol Pashinyan, who recognized Artsakh as the territory of Azerbaijan. And the other hemisphere continues to live in the usual patriotic frenzy and in the awareness of Azerbaijanis as eternal enemies of the Armenian people.
It is impossible to "marry" these two pictures of the world. Because, in Pashinyan's logic, Azerbaijani martyrs are wonderful guys who fought for the motherland and justice. And the Armenian heroes lying in Yerablur are invaders and separatists, invaders of foreign land. There is nothing funnier when Putin, who visited the alley of martyrs, screams the whole pack of pro-government propagandists who serve this particular fainting "real Armenia" of Pashinyan. Armenia, in which the Armenian defenders and liberators of Artsakh are destined to turn out to be scoundrels, and the Azerbaijanis are well done.
If it were not for this anti—Armenian "real Armenia", there would not be Putin's current visit to Baku without visiting Yerevan. Before Pashinyan blocked Putin's way to Yerevan, by ratifying the Rome Statute and before Pashinyan nullified the Moscow 2020 Agreements by the Prague betrayal of Artsakh, the Russian leadership carefully observed parity between the interests of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The disputed status of Artsakh served as a balancer.
The unilateral surrender of the Goris-Kapan road, then Berdzor and Akhavno, then Artsakh, on Pashinyan's initiative, sharply strengthened Azerbaijan's position and placed the Russian peacekeeping contingent, along with the residents of Artsakh, in Azerbaijani jurisdiction and on the land given to Azerbaijan. And now the creator of this disposition is turning the arrows on Putin, and his mouthpieces are hypocritically outraged by his visit to the alley of martyrs.
Meanwhile, absolutely everything that was discussed in Baku yesterday could have happened in Yerevan. From the transportation of Russian gas to the conditions for the delimitation of the state border, from the laying of the North—South corridor to the joint celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War — all this could be in the asset of the Armenia, not Azerbaijan. If it were not for schizophrenia, because of which a friend became an enemy, and the feat of the heroes was devalued.
Before making jokes about Putin and assessing his current policy, we, Armenians, need to figure out the same thing — who are our heroes for us today and who are Azerbaijani martyrs for us.
We need to deal with the crazy that Nikol Pashinyan awarded us. It is necessary to give an assessment to Pashinyan. And to ourselves."