Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is visiting Azerbaijan, has offered to help Baku sign a peace treaty with neighboring Armenia, which however accuses Moscow of abandoning it in the recent war with the Azeris.
“If we can do something to sign a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia we would be happy,” Putin said in joint remarks with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, after their talks.
The Russian president said that after his visit to Azerbaijan is over, he will contact Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to inform him “about the results of the talks” with Aliyev.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have clashed in many wars in recent years. In September 2023, Baku recaptured the mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists who had controlled it for decades.
Feeling that Russia did not protect it, Armenia is trying to deepen its ties with Western countries but has not yet come to a definitive break with Moscow, its traditional ally in the Caucasus region.
Aliyev, for his part, said that security in the region depends on Azerbaijan’s cooperation with Russia. “The new situation (since September last year) opens up new prospects for the establishment of a sustainable peace in the South Caucasus,” he stressed.
According to the Kremlin, this visit is an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss “issues related to the development and relations of strategic cooperation” as well as “international and regional problems”.
Aliyev said he expressed his concerns to Putin about the “catastrophic” shrinking of the Caspian Sea and that the two agreed to analyze the situation.
The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest lake, stretches between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, with Russia to the north and Iran and Turkmenistan to the south. Its water level has been falling steadily since the mid-1990s, according to scientific studies.
“From the window of the room where we were negotiating, I showed Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) the rocks that were under water just two years ago,” Aliyev said. “Today they are already a meter above the surface” of the water, he added.
Putin has not made any public statement on the matter.
Aliyev said he agreed with Putin to analyze the situation, which is developing into an ecological disaster.
Nazim Mahmudov, the head of the National Hydrometeorological Service of the Ministry of Ecology of Azerbaijan, told Reuters that the water level is affected by increased evaporation due to climate change and the diversion of Volga River waters for irrigation. Changes in the level of the Caspian Sea affect the environment as well as the economic sector, such as oil and natural gas extraction, he added, calling for international efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Baku will host the next UN climate conference (COP29) in November.
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