Armenia envies Baku-Moscow relations amidst changing geopolitical realities

Displeasure in the Armenian community increased following the departure of the Russian peacekeepers from the Garabagh region and an agreement that was reached on the return of 4 villages in the Gazakh district to Azerbaijan. Although severing relations with Russia is convenient for pro-Western Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, it is difficult for the Armenian opposition to give up Moscow, which has been under its patronage for a long time.

It is no coincidence that these forces are also worried about the strengthening of Azerbaijan-Russia relations. That is why, after the business trip of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to Russia in recent weeks, the Armenian media started a "smearing" campaign and claimed that there is a cooperation between Baku and Moscow that hosts "crimes".

In fact, the very actions of the forces bringing the criminal charges make the allegations laughable. It should not be forgotten that Armenia plundered the historical lands of Azerbaijan for 30 years and committed environmental, moral, physical, and psychological crimes. The genocides committed in Garabagh at the end of the 1990s, the merciless torture of Armenians against Azerbaijani women, children, and the elderly make it absurd for this country to raise criminal allegations against Azerbaijan.

Human bones and looted historical, cultural, and religious monuments found in the area since 2020, when the glorious Azerbaijani army liberated Garabagh, prove the murders and inhumane behaviour of the Armenian military in Garabagh.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan's relations with Russia should be evaluated as an obligation brought on by being a neighbouring state in the region. Obviously, Azerbaijan and Russia have been neighbours for centuries. Between these two countries, periodically, relations have been changeable.

For example, at the beginning of the 19th century, the placement of Armenians in the lands of Azerbaijan, especially in Erivan, Garabagh, and Nakhchivan, and the genocide of ethnic Azerbaijanis were carried out directly on the instructions of the tsarist Russia of that time.

In the 20th century, more specifically, in the 1930s, mass repression of Azerbaijani intellectuals was carried out by Soviet Russia. For 30 years, Russia created the conditions for Armenians to permeate in Garabagh, and for the destruction of the historical lands of Azerbaijan. The positive development of Azerbaijan's relations with Russia at the present time is not an indication that the official Baku has forgotten history.

Thus, politics is a constantly changing and developing field of activity that guides future steps. The relations between Azerbaijan and its northern neighbour Russia continue in a different direction as a result of the events in the South Caucasus and the choices of the regional states. As a result of the soft and gentle policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, Russia has accepted that Armenia, which it has patronised for many years, is an ungrateful "friend".

It is no coincidence that as soon as Russian-Azerbaijani relations fell in a different direction, the official Erivan could not hold Garabagh, which it once occupied, and the Azerbaijani state returned its lands after 30 years and a 44-day war. The Armenian ruling class, which could not digest the humiliating defeat, began to look for a solution in the West, and as a result, its relations with Russia came to a dead end, which made them a tool for the West.

It seems that even now those ruling classes want to find flaws in the policy of official Baku, and because they have not been able to make any progress in relations with Russia, they are trying to draw the attention of the world community to the South Caucasus with false information and accusations.

It should not be forgotten that Azerbaijan was founded not at the expense of the finances and instructions of other states like Armenia but at the expense of centuries-old history and culture, at the cost of the lives of prominent intellectuals.

Currently, the main goal of Baku is to ensure the economic and political development of the country and the region in the future, as well as to strengthen its relations with countries both in the East and the West.