By AZE.US Editorial Team
Azerbaijan does not have to justify its close relations with Ukraine to Moscow, Azerbaijani lawmaker Rasim Musabekov said, describing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Baku as a politically significant step.
Speaking in an interview with the YouTube channel Barvinenko, Musabekov said Zelensky’s trip was the Ukrainian president’s first full visit to a post-Soviet country. While the leaders of Azerbaijan and Ukraine have met regularly on international platforms, he said a separate visit to Baku carried special meaning.
According to Musabekov, the visit likely caused “considerable tension” in Moscow. But he said Azerbaijan has never hidden its close relationship with Ukraine, adding that the partnership between the two countries has long included sensitive areas such as defense industry cooperation.
Musabekov recalled that Ukraine supplied Azerbaijan with military equipment at a time when Baku faced restrictions and refusals from other suppliers. He mentioned MiG-29 fighter jets, Tochka U missile systems, artillery systems and tanks among the equipment Ukraine provided.
He said Russia later also began supplying Azerbaijan with new weapons after realizing that Baku could find the necessary defense equipment from other partners.
“Azerbaijan’s relations with Ukraine existed, exist and will exist,” Musabekov said. “Whether someone likes it or not does not play such an important role for Azerbaijan.”
He also rejected any possible criticism from Moscow over Baku’s support for Ukraine. Musabekov said Russia had supplied Armenia with large quantities of weapons while Azerbaijani territories were under occupation, including free deliveries worth major sums.
Against that background, he argued, Moscow has little ground to reproach Azerbaijan for maintaining strong ties with Kyiv.
Musabekov also commented on the idea of Baku serving as a possible venue for direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.
He said Azerbaijan could be suitable as a neutral platform if Moscow is ready for a face-to-face meeting and if negotiating teams prepare the ground in advance.
In his view, Turkey is not fully convenient for Russia because Ankara is not merely a host country but a major geopolitical player with its own influence on the process. Middle Eastern venues, he added, are also less suitable under current conditions.
Musabekov said Azerbaijan has several advantages: good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, established communications, the ability to ensure security and no intention of imposing its own position on either side.
He said Baku would be ready to offer “good offices” if that could help stop the war.
The goal, Musabekov said, may not be a full peace treaty at this stage, but at least a ceasefire that would stop deaths and destruction.
He added that after five years of war, common sense should eventually prevail, and Azerbaijan is ready to provide whatever diplomatic assistance may be needed.
AZE.US