Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Russian political analyst: There are positive changes in Russian political circlesâ€™ attitudes toward Azerbaijan

01 October 2014 10:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rufat Ahmadzadeh – APA. “There are positive changes in Russian political circles’ attitudes toward Azerbaijan and some Russian politicians who have criticized Azerbaijan up to now have already begun to take different positions,” director of the Institute for Political Studies Sergei Markov said at the press conference in Baku, APA reports.

“There are significant changes in Russian-Azerbaijani relations. Rapid development is observed in friendly relations between the two countries after Putin’s last visit to Azerbaijan,” he said.

Touching on Russian Liberal Democratic Party Leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s visit to Azerbaijan, he said that change in his attitude toward Azerbaijan is related with “political forecasting” and “new trend”.

“If enemy becomes a friend, it means striking changes. I witness that many politicians are changing their critical opinions about Azerbaijan,” Markov said.

The Russian political analyst said that the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia paved the way for Moscow to gain new partners and develop bilateral trade relations with Azerbaijan.

“I think these sanctions will continue further. Azerbaijan has all opportunities to export its agricultural products to Russia. Azerbaijani producers can take their places in the Russian market. I can say that agricultural production has increased by 80 percent this year,” he said.

Commenting on APA’s question whether the increase in export to Russia will cause the price rises in agricultural products in Azerbaijan or not, Markov said that as the increase in exports started all of a sudden, emergence of some problems is understandable.

“However, if a product is not taken to the market, the manufacturer has less interest. If there is a market, production will increase as well. New contracts are being concluded and a structure for agriculture is being formed. I think all problems will be solved next year", the political analyst added.