Aliyev is currently distancing from Russia – Andrey Perla

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Andrey Perla commented on the reasons behind Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s refusal to participate in the informal summit of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders, which took place in St. Petersburg.

“It seems that Aliyev is currently in a phase of maximum distancing from cooperation with Russia. This is, in fact, a cyclical pattern. Like many other leaders in post-Soviet countries, the leader of Azerbaijan practices multi-vector policy, sometimes approaches Russia as close as possible, sometimes distances himself as far as possible, trying to demonstrate his political independence,” the expert said.

According to the political scientist, Aliyev is now more interested in cooperation with Turkey and the United States.

“Aliyev is currently extremely distant. There is an objective reason for this. It is that the Azerbaijani leader is interested in developing the so-called ‘Zangezur corridor,’ which means he is more interested in cooperation with Turkey and the United States. However, as the Russian president’s press secretary rightly pointed out, Aliyev’s absence from the CIS summit doesn’t, in fact, deteriorate relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. It is more of an episode than a truly significant event,” Perla said.