After cleansing Karabakh of the Armenian population, Azerbaijan stopped taking Russia’s responses into account, says Zatulin

In an interview with Lenta.ru, Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee for the CIS, stated that Azerbaijan has never been a strategic partner of Russia.

Zatulin noted that Azerbaijan is neither a member of the Eurasian Economic Union nor the Collective Security Treaty Organization—organizations whose members are typically referred to as “strategic partners.” However, such membership does not necessarily protect against openly anti-Russian policies.

Furthermore, Zatulin noted that after cleansing Karabakh of the Armenian population, Azerbaijan stopped taking Russia’s responses into account. According to him, since that time, Azerbaijan’s leadership no longer had any reason to worry about possible negative responses from Russia or to be cautious of Russian intervention in such actions. The need to emphasize special relations with Russia has lost its significance.

Previously, it was reported that Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture canceled all cultural events held by Russian state and private organizations. The cancellations followed actions taken by Russian law enforcement against Azerbaijanis residing in Sverdlovsk Region.