Kathrine Frich
They have already signed a new defense pact.
When close allies start to bicker, old rivals are usually quick to step in.
In international politics, a sudden chill between two neighbours can open the door for an unexpected deal.
Now, a fresh military pact is raising eyebrows across the region.
Fixing up the fleet
Russia and Azerbaijan have signed a new defense pact to upgrade workshops that fix Azerbaijani armored vehicles, according to Kyiv Post. Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russia’s military cooperation agency, shared the news on the Russian state television channel Zvezda on November 1.
“An entire program has been signed that provides for the modernization and construction of facilities to repair armored vehicles in service with the Azerbaijani army,” Shugayev said.
He also hopes to sell Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense systems to Baku soon.
“The product is in very high demand among our customers, and I think that after some time we will reach an agreement with Azerbaijan, and they will come around to it,” he told Zvezda, though open-source tracker Oryx notes Ukrainian forces have destroyed dozens of those exact units since 2022.
A risky arrangement
Not everyone in Baku trusts Moscow’s intentions. Speaking to Kyiv Post, retired colonel and former Azerbaijani deputy defense minister Isa Sadigov warned that Russia might use the repair program as a cover to seize Azerbaijan’s military hardware for its war in Ukraine.
“Russia needs weapons itself. Is Russia really going to put aside its own military equipment to repair Azerbaijan’s?” he asked.
Sadigov also doubted Moscow would ever hand over new air defense systems after taking Baku’s cash, pointing out that Armenia previously paid Russia upfront for weapons that arrived late. And he slammed the morality of buying Russian gear right now.
“There is blood being spilled in Ukraine, and you are buying weapons from Russia, financing those who are bombing their cities and killing their people,” he told Kyiv Post.
Chilly ties with Ankara
This pivot toward the Kremlin comes at a tense moment. Between 2011 and 2020, Russia supplied about 60% of Azerbaijan’s major weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, before a December 2024 plane crash damaged by Russian air defenses strained relations.
Now, Baku is feuding with its closest partner, Turkey. As Kyiv Post reported, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently skipped a summit in Ankara hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after Turkish politicians criticized Azerbaijan’s school ban on religious clothing.
