AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT DEMONSTRATES HIGHEST POLITICAL MATURITY IN RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CONFLICT: RUSSIAN POLITICIAN

TREND News Agency
Aug 29 2008
Azerbaijan

Russia, Moscow, 29 August / Trend News corr. R.Agayev / The Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev showed the highest political maturity in
the issue of the Russian-Georgian conflict and was not drawn into
the anti-Russian company urgently initiated by the West, Mikhail
Alexandrov, the head of the Caucasus Institute Department of the CIS
countries, said. "Thus, Azerbaijan’s position was positive and even
demonstrative in definite sense," Alexandrov said at discussions on
Russia- Georgia- United States: War for resources? held in Moscow.

According to him, exactly due to such position of the Azerbaijani
leadership, the importance of Azerbaijan for Russia further
grew. Alexandrov considers that due to the recent events in Georgia,
military rhetoric in Azerbaijan reduced and it deals with the
re-consideration of the real situation in Caucasus.

The politician says that Russia is prepared to further continue
co-operation with Azerbaijan in all spheres if Azerbaijan will
be continuing friendly policy, not being drawn in anti-Russian
geo-political combination which currently the West tries to realize
in Caucasus.

According to him, in the long-term plan this will go only in favor
of Azerbaijan because the global economic crisis, which now untwists
in the West, sooner or later will lead to the collapse of the Western
economies, the collapse of NATO and complete reformation of the world
space, including in Caucasus. "And when Russia will already play
basic role there, then it will compulsorily consider that positive
attitude of Azerbaijan, which exists," he said.

In the opinion of Aleksandrov, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be
settled in such a way that even if Nagorno-Karabakh will remain as
part of Armenia, then seven regions around it will be compulsorily
returned to Azerbaijan and, most likely, Azerbaijan will obtain
territorial compensation elsewhere.

Speaking about the significance of Russia’s energy wars with Georgia,
the politician said that the energy reason for conflict was peripheral
because there were much more serious reasons here. In his opinion, the
strategy of the West began to be realized in Caucasus, especially in
Georgia, more clearly after Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2004
because the West attempted to finally crush Russia as an independent
state. "The plan of the West was such: collapse of Russia, beginning
firstly from the North Caucasus; adoption of Georgia and Azerbaijan
to NATO; collapse of Collective Security Treaty Organization and
support of separatism in the territory of Russia," said Aleksandrov

According to the politician, Russia did not bring its matter in the
conflict with Georgia to the end. He believes that it was necessary
to reach Tbilisi, to arrest Saakashvili and judge him in Vladikavkaz,
to organize the new elections in Georgia of which President welcomes
Russia, make Georgia a federal or confederative device with wide
authorities for all autonomies, including of Ajari, Javaheti populated
by the Armenians, Kvemo-Kartli populated by the Azerbaijanis, etc.

Speaking about the possible sanctions against Russia, the politician
noted that now the West is no longer the leader of the world policy
because there is powerful China, but nuclear parity remains with
Russia. According to him, in response to the possible sanctions of
the West, Russia should intentionally reduce oil production in order
to cause its cost-increase in the world markets, and then to extract
maximum benefit from the prevailing situation.