Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has condemned Russian strikes on Ukraine that targeted energy facilities owned by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Azerbaijan’s state-run oil and gas company.
“During the conversation, both sides condemned the deliberate airstrikes by Russia on an oil storage facility owned by Azerbaijan’s SOCAR in Ukraine, as well as other Azerbaijani facilities and a gas compressor station transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine,” the statement reads.
The two leaders also stressed “their confidence that these attacks would not hinder energy cooperation” between their two countries, according to the statement.
Last week, officials in Kyiv said Russia had struck a SOCAR-owned pumping station in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region used to import liquefied natural gas from Azerbaijan and the United States.
“This is a Russian strike purely against civilian infrastructure, deliberately targeting the energy sector and, at the same time, relations with Azerbaijan, the United States, and partners in Europe,” Ukraine’s energy ministry stated at the time.
In July, Ukraine pumped Azerbaijani gas through the Trans-Balkan route—for the first time—while announcing plans to boost gas imports from Azerbaijan.
Since Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in 2022, it has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure with increasing frequency, typically using missiles and drones.
Ukraine has responded with almost daily drone attacks on various targets across western Russia, often including energy sites.
Moscow–Baku Ties in Crisis
In recent months, Russia’s ties with Azerbaijan, a small country in the South Caucasus region, have deteriorated markedly after decades of stable relations.
Azerbaijan claimed that the airliner was struck—albeit accidentally—by Russian anti-aircraft fire, causing it to crash in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the people aboard.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later voiced his regret for the “tragic incident” but stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.
Relations took a further turn for the worse in July, when several Russian nationals, including two journalists, were arrested in Azerbaijan on a range of charges.
Days earlier, Russian authorities had detained several ethnic Azerbaijanis—two of whom died in police custody—for suspected involvement in organized crime.
Baku retaliated by announcing a countrywide ban on all scheduled Russian cultural events.
Azerbaijan also declined to attend a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States economic council, which was held in Moscow on July 18.
Azerbaijan is a long-standing member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Russia-led regional bloc of nine former Soviet republics.
