Aliyev and Zelenskyi sign six agreements in Azerbaijan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has visited Azerbaijan, where he and President Ilham Aliyev discussed security and energy cooperation and signed six agreements to expand their cooperation. While there, Zelenskyi met with a Ukrainian team stationed in Azerbaijan to share ‘its experience and expertise in protecting the skies and critical infrastructure facilities’.

The brunt of the visit appears to have taken place in Gabala, in northern Azerbaijan — a region bordering Russia to the south — on 25 April. It was Zelenskyi’s first visit to Azerbaijan during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. He had visited Azerbaijan in his first official visit in 2019, after his election as president.

In a joint press conference after their expanded meeting, Aliyev said the two discussed ‘joint initiatives, including investment-related matters’.

‘Our trade turnover has exceeded half a billion dollars’, Aliyev said.

He noted that they discussed military cooperation and that there were ‘excellent opportunities for joint production’.

In turn, Zelenskyi spoke about the six agreements they had signed earlier that day, saying ‘the number one field is security’.

‘Ukraine has demonstrated resilience during this war against the aggressor and is now sharing its experience’, Zelenskyi said. ‘Today, I spoke with our experts who are currently in Azerbaijan. They are certainly supporting our colleagues. Of course, we will develop our cooperation and co-production’.

This was a likely reference to a Ukrainian team stationed in Azerbaijan to share its ‘expertise in protecting the skies and critical infrastructure facilities’. Zelenskyi had met with the team, whose head briefed him on the ‘initial results of their work’ — which Ukraine says was under the framework of an international cooperation programme initiated by Ukraine.

It is not yet clear what sort of support this Ukrainian team of experts provides to Azerbaijan. However, on 19 April, Zelenskyi stated that Ukraine had signed defence export agreements with Middle Eastern countries on drone warfare and integrated air defence systems.

‘We already have requests from 11 more countries — the Middle East and the Gulf, and we are also gradually looking at the Caucasus’, Zelenskyi said on Twitter.

Speculation had since emerged as to which Caucasus country he was referring to.

In the press briefing, Zelenskyi added that defence and security cooperation with Azerbaijan had ‘taken a very serious step today by signing the relevant documents’. He stressed that this cooperation is ‘not only about weapons’, but rather a ‘global matter — one of stability for nations’.

Zelenskyi also expressed hope that negotiations with Russia would take place in Azerbaijan — ‘if Russia is ready for diplomacy’.

He additionally thanked Aliyev for the humanitarian aid Azerbaijan has sent to Ukraine throughout the war.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly said it was Zelenskyi’s first official visit to Azerbaijan. The Ukrainian president first visited Azerbaijan in 2019 after his election.

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OC MediaAytan Farhadova

This article was translated into Armenian and republished by our partner CivilNet.