"KOMMERSANT" BELIEVES PUTIN PROPOSED ALIYEV CHEAP WEAPONS PRODUCED IN RUSSIA

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 9 2006

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his Azeri counterpart Ilham
Aliyev, who is in Moscow, to resolve if he will continue the strategic
partnership with Russia. In case of an agreement, Azerbaijan will
be asked to participate in the struggle against Georgia in exchange
for Russian weapons and investments of RAO UES of Russia and Russian
Aluminum, writes the Russian newspaper "Kommersant" in an article
"Ilham Aliyev changes routes." The author of the article says the
Kremlin was concerned over the visit of Ilham Aliyev to Europe first of
all because of the expected growth of military expenses of Azerbaijan
for 2007 – from $600 million to $1 billion.

Azerbaijan makes rather equal military orders to the CIS countries
and suppliers of NATO. But in case of a sharp growth of purchases by
Azerbaijan, they in Moscow apprehend that Azerbaijan may change over
to the military standards of NATO. This may lead to announcement of
NATO a partner already by the second country in the Transcaucasia.

(To recap, Georgia was the first to announce its alliance with NATO
in the summer of 2006, after the conflict with Russia). All this will
lead to the use of the military bases in Azerbaijan by NATO and the
USA to control over the neighboring Iran. "Russia with respect to
Azerbaijan has principally different plans. That is why Vladimir
Putin proposed Ilham Aliyev to implement the plan of "strategic
partnership" development by lifting the bureaucratic longstops in the
way to purchase of relatively cheap Russian weapons by Azerbaijan,
"Kommerstant" writes referring to sources close to the presidential
administration. Earlier, Russia restricted these purchases not to
allow the prevalence of Azerbaijan over its another partner in the
region, Armenia," the author writes. He believes that creation of a
united front against Georgia is more important for Russia: the key
topic of negotiations is supposed to be Azerbaijan’s participation
in the energy blockade of Georgia in the winter of 2006-2007.

To recap, last winter Azerbaijan supplies electricity to a number
of Georgian regions during stoppages of gas and electricity supply
from Russia. Gasprom proposed Georgia 1,000 cubic meters of gas for
$230 (instead of $110) for 2007. According to data of "Kommersant,"
Gasprom proposed the same sum also to Azerbaijan instead of the
previous $95-100. Ilham Aliyev remained extremely dissatisfied with
the future price of the gas which is unlikely to meet the status of
a "strategic partner." The country imports from Russia about 1.5
billion cubic meters of gas annually. Moreover, by a single price
for Georgia and Azerbaijan Gasprom makes senseless the SWAP supply
of gas and electricity in case of electricity blockade in Georgia,
the newspaper writes. Russia’s other proposals to Azerbaijan are more
favorable. Thus, "Kommersant" writes that Vladimir Putin will present
Ilham Aliyev the proposals of Russian Aluminum under the project of
construction of an aluminum plant worth $1 billion in Gyandza. The
president will also informed his Azeri counterpart of the interest
of RAO UES of Russia’s structures in investments in the energy and
in electric networks of Azerbaijan.