Since taking office as President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has visited only Azerbaijan among the South Caucasus countries, reflecting the priority he places on developing a strategic partnership with Baku.

Axar.az reports that political analyst Elkhan Shahinoglu made this remark while commenting on Zelensky’s recent visit to Gabala.

“Zelensky’s statement in Gabala — ‘If the Russian side also chooses this diplomacy, we would also like to conduct our negotiations in Azerbaijan’ — is a continuation of this policy. For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remains committed to strengthening cooperation with his Ukrainian counterpart. This is demonstrated by the fact that the two leaders have met seven times over the past four years.

Zelensky has repeatedly expressed appreciation for Azerbaijan’s humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, energy cooperation, and efforts to host rehabilitation programs for Ukrainian children who lost their parents in the war. He has consistently thanked the Azerbaijani president for this support. Expanding economic ties between the two countries also continues to be a key priority,” he said.

It should be noted that Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs of the Russian Federation, welcomed Zelensky’s proposal and stated that Azerbaijan would be a suitable venue for such negotiations.