Zelenskyy’s visit to Baku is demonstrative in nature: Nikolay Silaev

Nikolay Silaev, Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of International Studies of MGIMO University under the Russian Foreign Ministry, commented to Alpha News during the seventh meeting of the “Lazarev Club,” titled “Armenia and Russia in a Changing World: Civilizational Choice and Future Scenarios,” on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Baku and the agreements reached with Azerbaijan on military-technical cooperation.

“This visit is, for Zelenskyy, an attempt to demonstrate that he has broad international support, while for Aliyev it is a way to show Russia how freely he acts and how little he cares about Moscow’s opinion on the matter. This is, in the first place, a demonstrative step, although some of the statements made during the visit cannot but cause serious concern. These include, for example, the announced plans for joint military production,” the expert said.

According to Silaev, official Baku is consistently missing opportunities to normalize relations with Moscow.

“Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense has issued a statement listing the addresses of so-called joint weapons production facilities for Ukraine in European countries. I don’t think anyone would be pleased to see addresses in Azerbaijan added to that list. This would certainly not improve relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, we see that official Baku is repeatedly missing chances to normalize these relations,” Silaev said.