Different dimensions of multi-vectoring. The Russian “tactic” of Baku:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov is on an official visit to the Russian Federation. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan, Sergey Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov, during the ongoing negotiations in Moscow, discuss the issues of economic and cultural-humanitarian cooperation, the situation in the South Caucasus and the “3 3” platform. This was announced by the Russian Foreign Minister at the start of the negotiations.

“Of course, we will talk about the situation in the South Caucasus. We have registered the return and growth of interest in the “3 3″ regional cooperation platform,” he noted.

Lavrov clarified that the parties plan to consider the current state of economic cooperation, taking into account the results of the 24th session of the intergovernmental commission held in April, as well as the perspectives of cultural and humanitarian projects. In addition, the ministers will discuss the cooperation within the OSCE, UN and CIS frameworks.

Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that they consider Bayramov’s visit in the context of continuing a reliable dialogue and confirmed Moscow’s readiness to contribute to the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan, including the conclusion of a peace treaty, demarcation of borders and unblocking of communications.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, in his turn noted the positive trend in the relations with Russia, despite all the complications in the world economy.

“I am sure that today we will be able to discuss in detail also the trade and economic block, an important element of which is the regular contacts of the intergovernmental commission. its 24th session took place in April of this year. In this context, we believe that, despite all the complications in the world economy, in general, the trend between our countries is positive,” Bayramov said.

According to him, during the negotiations, he intends to discuss cooperation in the directions that are planned for the near future. Bayramov emphasized that the Azerbaijani side also intends to discuss with Russian partners the entire complex of issues of the regional and international agenda, which are of mutual interest.

During the Lavrov-Bayram joint press conference, the parties noted that they have reached a number of agreements and will review the pace of cooperation. The meetings were not notable for particular warmth, nor for tense episodes between the parties, for harsh rhetoric, the statements were pragmatic, giving the impression that Moscow and Baku are starting from a new, pragmatic page after a crisis of relations that has lasted for more than a year and a half.

Russian analyst Alexander Khramchikhini According to him, this visit and the rhetoric of the Azerbaijani side suggest Baku’s desire to cautiously but consistently restore relations with Moscow. In his opinion, the emphasis on economic and humanitarian cooperation is not accidental. it allows the parties to temporarily push existing political differences off the agenda, focusing on projects.

“Baku is trying to show Russia that despite the new geopolitical realities, bilateral trade and economic ties remain of strategic importance. Recently, Yerevan has been actively using the same toolkit of “economic pragmatism”, avoiding as much as possible close political cooperation in contacts with Russia. Adopted tactics to maintain a “practical background” in relations with Russia, which will allow to reduce diplomatic conflicts, while Russia does not accept this very enthusiastically.  168.amthe analyst said in a conversation with

At the same time, he believes that Baku’s emphasis on the “3 3” format indicates an attempt to redefine the role of regional players.

“Azerbaijan openly prefers to solve regional issues through direct dialogue, emphasizing the lack of need for external mediators. In this logic, the strengthening of close economic ties with Russia serves as a lever for Baku to strengthen its own sovereign position and maintain its role in regional processes.

As a result, Bayramov’s visit and meeting with Lavrov can be seen as an attempt to restore confidence, where the economy acts as a safety buffer. However, this positive trend still does not mean the solution of fundamental political problems.

The most important challenge for Azerbaijan remains to balance relations with Moscow without compromising its own position regarding regional negotiation formats and subjectivity. In the case of Azerbaijan, for Russia at this stage, this seems to be acceptable for the sake of maintaining a certain influence. In the case of Yerevan, the situation is a little different, because Armenia is a member of the EAEU, so Russia takes many decisions of Yerevan in a different way,” Khramchikhin said.

By the way, Azerbaijani mass media mentioned that Bayramov’s visit to Moscow will be followed by his visit to Ukraine. This vector of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy testifies to the tactics of maintaining “strategic autonomy”, where the sequence of Moscow-Kiev visits seems to be a tool for maintaining subjectivity.

While the promotion of the economic agenda in Moscow allows maintaining manageable relations, the visit to Ukraine records Baku’s will to act outside the “political orbit” of the Kremlin. Basically, Azerbaijan is abandoning the post-Soviet model of being in Russia’s sphere of influence, emphasizing multi-vectorism, which, according to analysts, works well in the case of Azerbaijan.  Azerbaijan is not new to this policy, but it consistently emphasizes this fact in its relations with Moscow.

Basically, the official Yerevan is also trying to conduct a multi-vector, declared balancing policy, but the RA authorities still do not manage to get the Armenian-Russian relations out of the crisis, which especially depends on the economic component in the Republic of Armenia.

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