It is difficult to understand what Azerbaijan hopes to gain from confrontation with Russia – Andrey Perla

Speaking with Alpha News, political observer Andrey Perla commented on the worsening relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

According to the expert, many people in Russia are surprised by Azerbaijan’s actions.

“It was no secret that there was a large Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia, and no one was surprised that the police raid resulted in the detention of a number of members of this diaspora. But it is absolutely surprising that Azerbaijan regarded this as a serious threat and insult—enough to jeopardize its relations with Russia,” Perla said.

According to the political scientist, Azerbaijan will suffer serious losses if ties with Russia deteriorate.

“It would be completely wrong to say that Russia is somehow economically dependent on Azerbaijan. Russia benefits from economic cooperation with Azerbaijan, but Russia’s exports to Azerbaijan exceed imports by 5 times. Russia could easily manage without these imports. At the same time, if Russia imposes restrictions or sanctions on Azerbaijani imports, Azerbaijan will suffer quite serious losses. Moreover, Azerbaijan will suffer serious losses if Russia decides to deport a large portion of the Azerbaijani diaspora.

Therefore, it is very difficult to understand what Azerbaijan hopes to gain by escalating tensions. At the same time, despite the fact that many people now believe that the matter may almost reach the point of military actions, it must be said that Russia is not striving for anything like that, but, on the contrary, at a completely official level would like to return relations with Azerbaijan to normal, mutually beneficial, bilateral cooperation, which is not associated with any mutual provocations, reproaches and insults,” Perla concluded.