In the entire CIS space, there are no more good-neighbourly and friendly strategic partnerships than between Azerbaijan and Russia, department chief at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Fuad Akhundov, said during an online roundtable dedicated to the results of the year in Russian-Azerbaijani relations and the role of President Ilham Aliyev in the development of modern Azerbaijan.

Axar.az reports that "there were certain forces in Russia who said that Azerbaijan would go west, that it was impossible to sign contracts with Azerbaijan, that if Azerbaijan got rich, it would go west. But with each subsequent year, it became clear that Azerbaijani-Russian relations were only getting better," Akhundov said.

He noted the far-sighted policy of President Ilham Aliyev, who built "comfortable relations" with Ankara, Moscow, and Washington.

"The president recently issued several decrees on increasing salaries and social packages, although we have to rebuild from scratch a territory equal to the area of ​​Lebanon - 10,000 square kilometres. Everyone was in Karabakh, and everyone saw that everything was razed to the ground. Despite this, President Ilham Aliyev finds funds to increase the social package, pensions, and scholarships for the population of Azerbaijan," said Akhundov.

He added that a further improvement in relations with Russia and an increase in trade turnover is ahead.