Azerbaijan has never been Russia`s strategic partner - Konstantin  Zatulin 

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan has never been a strategic partner of Russia.  This opinion was expressed by the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Konstantin Zatulin in an interview with Lenta.ru regarding relations between Russia and Azerbaijan.

Earlier, it was reported that the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan  cancelled all cultural events organized by state and private  institutions in Russia. The reason for such measures was the actions  of Russian law enforcement officers against Azerbaijanis in the  Sverdlovsk region.

The deputy noted that Azerbaijan is not a member of either the  Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO), in  relation to whose members the term strategic partner is used. At the  same time, such membership does not protect against an openly  anti-Russian course, he noted. In addition, Zatulin pointed out that  after the cleansing of Karabakh from the Armenian population,  Azerbaijan stopped taking into account Russia's reaction.

"After this, the leadership of Azerbaijan no longer had any reason to  rely on a possible negative reaction from Russia, to be wary of  Russia's interference in such actions. The need to emphasize special  relations with Russia has ceased to be significant," the  parliamentarian said.

According to him, Azerbaijan, like Russia, should have benefited from  cooperation in the trade and economic sphere even without  Nagorno-Karabakh. The parliamentarian emphasized that a large number  of people from Azerbaijan work in Russia as labor migrants, and there  are also many people of Azerbaijani nationality among Russian  citizens.

"But at the same time, Azerbaijan has never been a strategic partner  from the very beginning, which is a mistake on our part, throughout  the history of its independence. Our plans to use Azerbaijan as an  element of the north-south corridor, in my opinion, are very  problematic. Although this work continues, it has not yet led to a  breakthrough," the deputy noted.