Azerbaijan's President declares support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity
Photo: Ilham Aliyev (Getty Images)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has confirmed that Baku has supported Ukraine's territorial integrity since the beginning of the Russian invasion, AZERTAC reports.
According to him, this position is based on the country's own experience, as it suffered from the violation of its territorial integrity.
Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan consistently opposes any form of separatism and upholds the principle of state unity not only on paper but also in practice - not only legal unity and border control, but also physical unity, emphasizing the importance of effective political institutions in the country.
"Azerbaijan as a country which suffered from violation of territorial integrity supports territorial integrity of all the countries, and our position on that is straightforward. And again, coming back to what we discussed about Azerbaijan-Russian relations, we, from the very first days of Russian invasion to Ukraine, supported Ukraine's territorial integrity and continue to support it," he said.
Aliyev also linked this position to Azerbaijani-Russian relations and spoke about regional issues, in particular the interest in preserving sovereignty and stability in Syria and countering separatism in various regions.
Russian attacks on SOCAR and Azerbaijan's response
On the night of August 18, Russian troops struck the oil depot of the Azerbaijani company SOCAR in the Odesa region with drones.
On August 8, the Russians had already attacked the same SOCAR oil depot with Shahed drones. At that time, a diesel fuel pipeline was damaged, and four employees were severely injured. Sources indicated that the facility was a deliberate target.
After that attack, Azerbaijan reacted sharply to Moscow's actions, threatening to lift the ban on arms supplies to Ukraine. In addition, Baku allocated $2 million in humanitarian aid to Kyiv.
