Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit

BAKU: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday (Aug 18) for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported.
Russian television broadcasts images of the Russian president’s plane arriving in Baku in the evening.
His visit to the Caucasus country, a close partner of Moscow but also a major energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil. 
Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems,” the Kremlin said.
Aliyev and Putin will sign joint documents and make statements to the press, said Russian agency Ria Novosti.
On Monday, Putin will also lay a wreath on the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, father of the current leader, who was president from 1993 to 2003.  
Earlier, the Kremlin said they would also discuss “the question of settling (the conflict) between Azerbaijan and Armenia”.
Azerbaijan reconquered the mountainous enclave in September 2023 from the Armenian separatists who had held it for three decades.
Armenia accused Russia of inadequate support in its conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh.
Since then, Armenia has sought to deepen its ties with Western countries, especially the United States, much to the annoyance of Moscow, which regards both former Soviet republics to be in its sphere of influence. 
Azerbaijan is hosting the COP29 climate conference in November.
It is a major producer of natural gas, to whom many European countries turned to make up for the sharp reduction in Russian deliveries after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin’s last visit to Azerbaijan was in September 2018.