AZE.US
Azerbaijani lawmaker Rasim Musabekov has said Ukraine’s resistance to Russia has become a major factor limiting Moscow’s neo-imperial ambitions across the post-Soviet space.
Speaking on the Daily Europe Online YouTube channel, Musabekov said Ukraine is fighting first of all for its own independence. But he added that the war has also become a security issue for other former Soviet republics.
“If Ukraine had broken, other post-Soviet states would not have lasted long,” Musabekov said.
According to him, their formal independence might not have disappeared, but many of them would have quickly fallen into Russia’s sphere of influence.
Musabekov also said Ukraine played a decisive role in the final collapse of the Soviet Union. He noted that the Baltic and South Caucasus republics had actively fought for independence, but the Soviet project became impossible to preserve after Ukraine refused to join a renewed version of the USSR.
He said Ukraine’s current struggle is now seen not only through the lens of Ukrainian sovereignty, but also as part of Europe’s own security architecture.
The Azerbaijani MP also commented on Russia’s relations with Kazakhstan, saying President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Astana was unlikely to become a historic event. He said Kazakhstan had managed, through cautious policy, to strengthen its statehood since independence despite its long border with Russia and lack of natural defensive barriers.
Musabekov noted that Kazakhstan had inherited serious vulnerabilities after the Soviet collapse, including a large Russian-speaking population and a 7,500-kilometer border with Russia. Still, he said Astana gradually reinforced its sovereignty, moved its capital closer to the north and achieved significant economic growth.
He also touched on Armenia’s dependence on Russian energy supplies, saying a state’s ability to pursue an independent policy depends heavily on whether it can pay its own bills and diversify key resources.
Musabekov did not rule out that Azerbaijan could theoretically help Armenia with limited gas supplies if Moscow tried to pressure Yerevan through an energy cutoff. He recalled that Azerbaijani gas had previously reached Armenia through Gazprom during repair works.
On Armenian politics, Musabekov said Azerbaijan has become a key topic in Armenia’s election campaign, but mainly as an instrument used by opposition forces against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
He said even if revanchist forces came to power in Armenia, they would not be able to reclaim “a single centimeter” of Azerbaijani territory.
“Any attempt to restart a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan would be suicidal for Armenia,” Musabekov said.
He added that Azerbaijan is acting with restraint and is not interfering in Armenia’s domestic politics. But he warned that if forces with a revanchist agenda take power in Yerevan, the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia could be frozen at its current point.
Musabekov said Azerbaijan would not negotiate with political forces seeking to return to territorial claims against Baku. If provocations follow, he said, Azerbaijan’s response would be immediate.
AZE.US