I consider the meeting held yesterday in Dushanbe to be very successful for those who want to reduce tensions in Azerbaijani-Russian relations.

Axar.az reports that these thoughts were expressed by Matthew Bryza, former director of the US National Security Council for European and Eurasian Affairs, former Washington ambassador to Baku, who commented on the one-on-one meeting between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, in Dushanbe on October 9.

M. Bryza noted that President Putin, for the first time, announced that the investigation into who was responsible for the downing of the AZAL airliner over Grozny would soon be concluded:

“He also said that Russia would pay compensation. Earlier, he tried to deny any official involvement of the Russian military in the downing of the plane. Now he says that the plane crashed as a result of fire from an air defense system. Thus, Putin has finally admitted what happened.

I believe that if the investigation is truly completed and someone in the Russian government is found responsible for the tragedy, then President Aliyev will gain respect for himself, and we will likely see positive progress and improvement in Azerbaijani-Russian relations.

I absolutely do not agree with the possibility that in other cases, Russia could resort to military aggression in response to this tension. First of all, Vladimir Putin is to blame. What is new here is that Putin has decided to show respect for Azerbaijan and its President, Ilham Aliyev, and is openly trying to reduce the level of tension. I think Ilham Aliyev will give an adequate answer to this.

Azerbaijan has always been important for Russia. Putin knows that at the moment, both Azerbaijan and Armenia are increasingly leaning towards the US and Europe. Perhaps he has understood that to maintain his influence, he needs to treat Azerbaijan with more respect.