The Chechen war has placed Azerbaijan in an uncomfortable geopolitical position. Russia has repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of supporting Chechen separatists, and the Kremlin has pressured Baku, seeking Azerbaijani approval for Russian military policies. Though sympathetic to the Chechen cause, Azerbaijani leaders have denied the allegations, and have sought to defend the state's sovereignty and protect its oil export options.
In the latest diplomatic incident, Azerbaijani officials rejected a report that Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov and other separatist fighters were using Azerbaijan as a safe haven, the Interfax news agency reported on August 21. "There is not a single Chechen rebel on the territory of Azerbaijan," said a statement issued by Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry. Such claims made by Russian military officials were the result of either "the fruit of a sickly imagination or poor professionalism," the ministry statement added.
In mid July, Russia and Azerbaijan sparred over the broadcast of an interview with Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev by a private television station in Baku. Azerbaijani officials, seeking to allay Russian concerns, initially tried to prevent the broadcast, but relented after a public outcry. The decision predictably produced outrage in the Kremlin.
In the interview, the rebel leader assailed Russian political and military leaders. "We, to be honest, entered this war weaker than we were in the previous [Chechen war that ended in 1996]. Because the Russians managed to split us badly or well, they managed to disperse our forces, and if this war hadn't started, we would have had civil war," Basayev said in the interview. "Now they [the Russian government] are practically staking everything they have. But they bomb villages and exterminate civilians.
Hikmet Hadjy-zadeh is the Vice President of the FAR CENTER in Baku.
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