All right, Alexander, Putin is in Azerbaijan.

Let's talk about the reasons for Putin to be in Azerbaijan.

Is this connected to the tensions in the caucuses?

Is this about something else?

What's going on here?

Well, I think it is, and it's again once more the product of American

Western diplomacy and of the policies of the Paschunian government in Armenia, because what

is happening in the Caucasus, in the Southern Caucasus, is a diplomatic revolution. Because at the

time when the Soviet Union broke up

there was this conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh

and the Russians quite straightforwardly backed Armenia.

They're very, very close historic ties with Armenia. There are millions of

Armenians in Russia. The Armenians have historically played a very big role in Russian history

and in Russian culture. There's a strong affinity and liking between the two nations. And Nagorno-Karabakh was populated by Armenians.

And for that reason, the instinct of the Russian government

and perhaps even more so of the Russian people

was to sympathize with Armenia.

And that meant that Azerbaijan, which potentially is the much more powerful country,

it has much more, far greater resources, it's more industrialized.

Baku was always a major industrial centre.

That's the capital of Azerbaijan.

It also has an important, very significant oil and gas industry, and it's bigger in population.

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