Ilham Aliev’s unspoken hints to Moscow about Russian weapons

The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) recently made an interesting statement about the absence of the need to sign another agreement on military-technical cooperation with Russia and the purchase of new weapons, since during the «Patriotic war» the effectiveness of Russian-made systems was low, and the decisive role was played by Israeli and Turkish weapons. Opposition party leaders also expressed their opinion about the possibility of concluding a treaty with the United Kingdom, Turkey and Israel and creating a new military — political order in the region together with these countries.

APFP had pro-Turkish political views from the very beginning of its foundation, so in this context, the representatives of the party express the further goals and programs of Turkey in the South Caucasus region. It is not excluded that the Azerbaijani opposition made its statement with the consent of the authorities. With this step, Baku is trying to send a message to Moscow about obtaining concessions on the Karabakh issue and the expediency of further arms purchases from the Russian side.

Meanwhile, on February 26, during a press conference for foreign and local media, Ilham Aliyev acknowledged that Russian military equipment is the best in the world by some indicators, and in general-one of the best in the world (this is one of the reasons why Aliyev, in his words, suggested the Russian side take back the operational — tactical missile systems «Iskander» from Armenia, thus recognizing that Armenia has a powerful missile system that is so dangerous for their oil and gas business, the presence of which has not been recognized by official Baku for a long time). At the same time, Aliyev announced the purchase of new Turkish weapons, announcing the contracts already signed for the purchase of «the most modern weapons» produced in Turkey.

Let’s leave aside the level of modernity of Turkish weapons, especially since the Turkish military-industrial complex is developed extremely discretely and irregularly. Such contradictory statements suggest that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is playing his game in the political sidelines, maneuvering between a rock and a hard place (in other words, Russia and Turkey). This explains the fact that the opposition, with his knowledge, «adheres» to a pro-Western and pro-Turkish course, while he pretends to be among the friends and allies of Russia.