Sale of weapons in exchange for prisoners. “Atlantic Council” experts offer

US President Trump’s administration should offer a “grand deal” to Azerbaijan, which provides for the lifting of restrictions on the sale of weapons by the United States to Azerbaijan in exchange for the release of dozens of political prisoners by Baku.

Analysts of the American think tank “Atlantic Council” expressed a similar opinion by publishing The article with the caption “It’s time for the US-Azerbaijan “big deal””.

Atlantic Council experts believe that changes in the United States’ relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, the upcoming elections in Armenia and the need for a final peace agreement will make the success of such a deal more likely.

Mentioned is that efforts to reach that deal should be based on the model that the White House used in negotiations with Belarus, which has released more than five hundred political prisoners. To put it more simply, “Atlantic Council” analysts’ proposal is political trade with Baku.

“By negotiating targeted sanctions relief in exchange for the release of political prisoners in Belarus, the White House has helped free more than 500 people from unjust captivity. A similar deal with Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus will bring great benefits with much less risk,” the authors write.

It is noted that in order to implement this “big deal” in Azerbaijan, the Trump administration must work with Congress, because in order to remove the restriction on arms sales, it is necessary to cancel subsection 907 of the Freedom Support Act passed by the US Congress in 1992, better known as Resolution 907.

“In order to implement this ‘grand deal’ in Azerbaijan, the Trump administration must work with Congress to propose lifting restrictions on arms sales to Baku in exchange for the release of unjustly imprisoned individuals.” This is a rare moment for a mutually beneficial bipartisan decision and a relatively inexpensive way to strengthen the United States’ relationship with an important strategic energy and transportation partner bordering Iran and Russia. “If the right moment is chosen, Armenia can also support this initiative if the release of political prisoners includes the Armenians currently held in Azerbaijan,” the article states.

The experts of the “Atlantic Council” next presented their proposals on “what to do with Resolution 907” and “in what sequence to build” the proposed agreement with Azerbaijan. In this context, they added that relations between Washington, Baku and Yerevan are changing, and in February, Armenia and Azerbaijan “received unprecedented US attention” when US Vice President JD Vance visited these countries.

Full article on the source website.

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