EXIM Bank approves $339mln loan to the Azerbaijani airline Silk Way

ArmInfo. The board of directors of the American state-owned EXIM Bank approved a $339 million loan to the Azerbaijani airline Silk Way for the purchase of Boeing aircraft.

The aircraft will be delivered by the summer of 2026. The fact that  Silk Way aircraft, according to authoritative media, were involved in  the transportation of weapons did not prevent the American side from  approving the loan. Silk Way is considered an airline affiliated with  the President of Azerbaijan. This was reported by the Armenian  service of Radio Liberty.

The first information about EXIM Bank (US Export-Import Bank)  financing Boeing for Silk Way appeared in early January. The bank was  collecting public comments on the financing of the deal. The parties  did not disclose the number of aircraft to be delivered. In these  transactions, in one case, the Spanish bank Santander acted as the  guarantor for the loan, and in the other, the American Private Export  Finance Corporation (PEFCO). In response to a request from Radio  Liberty, Santander declined to comment on its role in the deal.

The Silk Way loan deal was overseen by the bank's consultant David  Golden, EXIM's vice president of transportation David Fiori and  Cheryl Conlin, a credit officer in the same department. In April  2021, the latter participated in a virtual forum organized by the US  Embassy in Baku, during which US officials and businessmen presented  American technologies and financial capabilities in logistics  matters. The discussion included officials from Turkey and Georgia,  who spoke about the regional . Cheryl Conlin also participated in an event organized by  the US Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan in 2017, where she spoke  about the programs implemented by EXIM with Azerbaijani companies.  Last November, EXIM representatives traveled to Baku to participate  in COP 29.

Silk Way: A Hotbed of Conflict and Corruption

Azerbaijan's Silk Way is known for transporting weapons to conflict  zones. In 2010, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Azerbaijani Service  revealed that one of the airline's ultimate shareholders was the  Aliyev family. In 2018, the Organized Corruption Reporting Project  (OCCRP) reported that the US-based EXIM Bank had provided Silk Way  with hundreds of millions of dollars in financing. The article noted  that in 2014, EXIM provided the Azerbaijani airline with about $420  million to purchase three Boeing 747-8 Freighter aircraft. The  International Bank of Azerbaijan acted as a guarantor in this deal.  In 2017, EXIM financed Silk Way with $1 billion to purchase 10 Boeing  aircraft.

In 2022, the Washington Post published an extensive investigation  into how, at the height of the war in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan opened  its airspace to the United States and its allies in exchange for  closer diplomatic cooperation and $369 million in contracts with Silk  Way. Two US Air Force generals, Duncan McNab and William Fraser, who  were in charge of supply routes from 2008 to 2014, later decided to  materialize their connections in Azerbaijan. After retiring, they  signed expensive consulting contracts with Silk Way Airlines, raising  questions about the motives of the American generals. According to  the Washington Post, the Pentagon and State Department regularly  allow retired military personnel to work in foreign countries or for  companies controlled by foreign governments.

, the  authoritative publication noted, citing documents.

In 2020, 2023, Silk Way operated during the military actions launched  by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. In September 2023, about 2 weeks  before the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, Hetq wrote that in August-  September, Silk Way Airlines made 4 flights from the Israeli Ovda  airbase to Baku, transporting explosive ordnance. During the 44-day  war of 2020, this Azerbaijani airline also actively carried out  flights to Azerbaijan from Israel, Turkey and Afghanistan.

What do the bank and the RA MFA say?

EXIM Bank, responding to RFE/RL inquiries regarding the risks of  lending to Silk Way, stated: .

, - the response to RFE/RL's inquiries  states. At the same time, the bank did not answer questions about  whether other government agencies had submitted comments and  observations regarding this transaction before the decision to lend  to Silk Way was made.

In 2021, OCCRP also published an investigation claiming that an  Azerbaijani airline was involved in transporting 100 tons of weapons  to the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville in Central Africa. Congolese  oppositionists say it was used to suppress opposition protests.

Radio Liberty tried to find out from the Armenian Foreign Ministry  whether this loan to the Azerbaijani airline was discussed during  recent contacts and discussions between the leaders or departments of  Armenia and the United States. In response, the Foreign Ministry  emphasized that Yerevan's relations with Washington are developing in  the format of a strategic partnership and are not conditioned by  bilateral cooperation between the United States and third countries.

The US State Department did not respond to Radio Liberty's questions  about the multi-million dollar Azerbaijani-American agreement.

While the American EXIM Bank was successfully completing the new loan  for Silk Way, the company continues to operate new flights,  transporting cargo from Israel to Azerbaijan. According to Hetq, in  the first quarter of 2025, 6 flights were made from the Israeli Ovda  airbase to Baku. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz previously emphasized  that the Ovda airbase is used to transport explosive devices.