Friday, April 26 2013

 

A few days ago, Azerbaijani media reported
that Azerbaijan has suspended all its negotiations with Russia on the purchase
of new weaponry and military equipment. Some analysts believe these reports might
seem to be consistent given Moscow’s recent refusal to lease the Gabala radar
station because of the unreasonably high price recently demanded by Baku – 300
mln USD against the previous 7 mln USD. However, there are many analysts, who
have noticed that Azeri media almost simultaneously reported that European
producers had unexpectedly softened the terms of weaponry sale to the South
Caucasus countries. The conclusion that it was stove-piping proved to be
right.      

 

That refusal has seriously damaged the
military-technical cooperation of Moscow and Baku. It is considered to be a
blow on the right place. It had been prepared for a long time and purposefully.
I’d like to tell something from the recent past that fundamentally changes the
idea of alleged close military cooperation with our country. It was in May
2007. I worked at MGIMO (Moscow State Institute for International Relations)
then. Suddenly, I received a phone call from Gromiko from the Foreign Ministry.
He previously worked at the Russian Embassy in Armenia and told me that I am
charged to hold a meeting with Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan, on May 8. Azimov was on an official visit to Moscow at that moment.
I had 1.5 day to organize that meeting. All the teachers were at their country
houses and it was very difficult to gather the necessary quantity of people on
May 8. Nevertheless, we have gathered them. Though it were mainly Azerbaijani
students gathered by Leyla Aliyeva. Gromiko arrived the first and said with a
smile on his face that the negotiations with Azimov proved so successful that
“we have realized that Azerbaijan is the closest country for us. You cannot
even imagine how good is their attitude towards us,” he said. In response to my
question: “So what? Have you believed him?” Gromiko shook his shoulders with
bewilderment. Azimov arrived accompanied with Javanshir Ashraf ogli Akhundov,
an employee of the Embassy, whom I had repeatedly met before.  Although, he occupied the position of the
advisor to the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia, he was more connected with
special services of his country.  It was
him, who organized my meeting with the new resident that arrived for
replacement at the Embassy in Moscow. The latter offered me to open a center,
institute or any other structure on the Azerbaijani funds with a staff of 10
people with high salary and paid work trips in exchange for publications in the
Russian press.  They were ready to pay
for all that rather big sums. I refused. They found another person, a lecturer
from the Moscow State University, who has been working with a big team for the
Azerbaijani authorities for already several years.

 

Thus, the meeting with Azimov started.
First of all, he said that Azerbaijan like Russia prefers a multi-vector
foreign policy. The deputy minister said that Azerbaijan and Armenia were very
close to resolve the conflict, but the negotiators should be very careful in
their actions not to make any mistakes that might bring the achievements to
nothing and throw the negotiations back. He said that Azerbaijan, in turn, was
ready for a compromise and resolution of the conflict within the principle of
the territorial integrity of states.  I’d
like to recall that it was May 8 2007. Six years have passed since then and
nothing has remained from his assurances that the parties are close to the
resolution of the conflict. What we have now is the trigger-happy policy of the
president and his minions. Azimov as an experienced and cunning diplomat knew
everything beforehand. He knew that Azerbaijan planned nothing of the kind. He
even managed to mislead experienced diplomats of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In the meanwhile, Azerbaijan was transferring models of the new Russian
military hardware to its new friends – America and Israel.

 

Actually, that was the true reason of their
close military cooperation with out country. Leasing of the Gabala radar
station by Russia was just a cover, a pretend to receive military hardware.
Russia missed that. They were holding friendly meetings of presidents,
politicians and analysts in our country. 
Already at the 5th Convent of RAMI (Russian International Studies
Association) at MGIMO, the attitude to the problems of the South Caucasus,
including the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, could be easily guessed from the
attitude of the Azerbaijani delegation led by Madam Ganira Pashaeva, that
female power broker. I had already written that when Azerbaijan joins NATO, it
is will be too late for Russia to do anything in opposition.  However, at the meeting with Azimov, the
author of the official information did not cover the questions Azimov was asked
in reality. Naturally, MGIMO representatives asked him about the military
cooperation of the two countries. Here is one of those questions: “Mr. Azimov,
your country has began purchasing less shells, bullets, and other ammunition.
What is the reason? You have still enough combat efficient military hardware
from Soviet time. Maybe, you have utilized all that?”  Azimov replied without hesitation: “You know,
now we use NATO’s shells, bullets and all the necessary military hardware. The
point is that they in NATO created adapters for the entire Russian weaponry and
we now use their shells and other ammunition and military hardware they
supply.”

 

Actually, Azerbaijan began purchasing
ammunition from other countries since early 21^st century.  Azerbaijan will keep using the Soviet models
of military hardware, but it does not need the modern military hardware of
Russia. They transferred to the NATO standards long ago. At first, they did it
on the quiet, concealing everything from Russia. Now, it is generally known
that Baku develops military cooperation with 12 NATO member-states as well as
Pakistan, Croatia, Columbia, Kazakhstan, China, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Korea,
Israel, Austria, Ukraine, Qatar and Bahrain. Baku dynamically develops
cooperation with Turkey, which oversees building of Azerbaijan’s
military-industrial complex… Therefore, the ruling dynastic regime in
Azerbaijan will not develop military cooperation with Russia. As David Babayan
mentioned, this speaks volumes. It demonstrates, first of all, the
vulnerability of the regime and Azerbaijan itself, which was aptly
characterized as a Colossus with Feet of Clay by a European expert. Baku
understands the nuances of the situation and has nothing to do but play with
Russia via the media that disseminate misinformation, which meets the best
traditions of Aliyev's propaganda. (David Stepanyan. Nature abhors a vaccum…)

 

It is not a secret that Western countries
prepare and store huge reserves of ammunition in the territory of Azerbaijan
not to protect that country from mythical enemies, but to war against Iran. And
the propagandists in Baku should not distort their faces into grimaces of
surprise. Azerbaijan is preparing for a large-scale war against the Islamic
Republic of Iran. The territory of Azerbaijan has become a reserve aerodrome
for Israel and America and other countries that will get everything necessary
to war against Azerbaijan’s neighbor. Azerbaijan put an eye on Iran yet long
ago. In Baku they openly say what part of Iran they will get. 

 

 

I think that they have already prepared new
geographic maps with ‘annexed’ territories. The talks at the Azerbaijani Milli
Mejlis on renaming the country into Northern Azerbaijan and similar nonsense
are not nonsense, in reality. This is the very reality the Azerbaijani
political circles act in. In Baku they began selling the bear’s skin before one
has caught it. What if everything happens on the contrary and some regions
break away from Azerbaijan becoming independent states. After all, Aliyev’s
policy towards minorities in Azerbaijan is not just shameful; it is criminal.