On August 3, during the joint presentation of the Agency for Demining the Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA) and the Embassy of France in Azerbaijan, the French Embassy, led by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Zachary Gross, presented 130 mine detection devices to Azerbaijan. The devices were provided within the framework of the declaration signed on February 25, 2022 between ANAMA and the French Embassy in Azerbaijan. This military assistance will most likely be used in demining the territories of Artsakh, occupied by Azerbaijan.
Since the third Artsakh war, we have witnessed the obvious manifestation of the double standards of the EU and the collective West in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. At the level of statements, the West tries to maintain a seeming impartiality and pacifism, placing a sign of equality between the two sides, constantly repeating that it is “deeply concerned about the situation around Karabakh” and advocates for peace and stability in the South Caucasus, but practical steps to promote that peace, which have there is no real coercive power.There are no preventive steps by Azerbaijan against the return of Armenian prisoners of war, the growth of anti-Armenian rhetoric, the occupation of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Instead, for example, after the provocations unleashed by Azerbaijan on August 3, the US State Department, the EU, the OSCE and NATO rushed to make calls not directed to Azerbaijan to curb military aggression, but to both sides, which is legitimate, because Russian – Against the background of the Ukrainian war and the energy crisis it caused in the EU, the key importance of Azerbaijan for the EU as an alternative source of energy has increased dramatically.Let’s remind that on July 18, between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, a memorandum was signed to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector, by which the gas export to the EU should be increased to 20 billion cubic meters within a few years.
Taking into account the importance of establishing peace in the region on Azerbaijani terms for stable and safe supplies of Azerbaijani gas to Europe and the importance of Azerbaijan’s strategic position in connection with energy-rich Central Asia, the issue of mediation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty has turned into a race between Russia and the West, in which the latter seeks to prevent the growth of Russian influence in the region in any way.It is worth noting that especially in tense border situations, anti-Russian sentiments and pro-Western theses are circulating in Armenia, which is the result of the consistent work of Turkey and Azerbaijan, i.e. the West and their henchman de-facto authorities in Armenia.
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