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BAKU: Russia Said To Be Pressing Azerbaijan For Money Ahead Of Presi

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  • BAKU: Russia Said To Be Pressing Azerbaijan For Money Ahead Of Presi

    RUSSIA SAID TO BE PRESSING AZERBAIJAN FOR MONEY AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

    Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
    May 25 2013

    Russia is demanding that Azerbaijan pay 40bn dollars and concede
    half of its energy revenues in exchange for Moscow's provision of
    stability and support for the Baku government in the October 2013
    presidential election.

    The report said that the two countries have already discussed terms of
    the demands unofficially on a number of occasions. The paper noted,
    however, that Azerbaijan had refused to pay any fees to Russia,
    something that has allegedly caused Moscow's greater anger. The
    source said that "pressure on Baku has increased in visible and
    invisible forms".

    The paper stressed that different sources confirmed the rumours about
    Russia's continuing pressure on Azerbaijan.

    "There were speculations that the government was considering paying the
    money. The latest of these reports came from a completely different
    source. Therefore, we can say confidently that the reports about
    Russia demanding money in exchange for supporting the government in
    the election are widespread. If Baku is desperate and if it fails
    to receive support from the West, it will have to 'pay the fee',"
    the paper said.

    The report argued that Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov's
    recent visit to Russia aimed at normalizing the relations but the
    18 May Eurovision scandal, when Azerbaijan gave nil points to the
    Russian entry and later admitted a miscalculation of votes, further
    exacerbated the tensions.

    The paper went on to say that Azerbaijan is not the only country Russia
    is pressurizing at the moment. It added that Moscow is unhappy about
    Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's reluctance to back the Eurasian
    Union proposed by Putin and the country's European Union bid.

    "As a result, [Russia's] Gazprom has announced a 64-per-cent increase
    in fees for gas sold to the Armenian population. This alone has
    sufficed to cause chaos among Armenians. Political analysts who are
    familiar with Russian foreign policy believe that pressure by Moscow
    will increase further," Yeni Musavat said.

    [Translated from Azeri]

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