Russia & CIS

According to President’s decree on ‘Amendments to the decree #226 on ‘Additional measures in improving the institutional activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and approval of regulations about state services about Ministry of Agriculture and state services under of the ministry’, Azerbaijan will establish state agrarian development centers in towns and districts.

"Strategic exchange reserves increase", Chairman of Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Elman Rustamov said at the press conference.

A ceremony has been held in Lokbatan settlement, Garadagh district, Baku, to give out apartments and cars to veterans of the Karabakh and Great wars, the Chernobyl disabled and families of martyrs.

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 95 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said August 1.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset.

The Azerbaijani people have always cherished their culture, language, literature, poetry and music, elements that have preserved the spirit of our nation through the centuries, Azerbaijan’s First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva said in the congratulatory letter to the participants of the X Gabala International Music Festival.

According to the instructions of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, the Minister of Defense Colonel General Zakir Hasanov and the leadership of the Ministry have visited the foremost units stationed in various directions of the front, the Ministry of Defense told APA.

The events, taking place in Armenia contradict the statements of the country's new leadership about the refusal to pursue their political predecessors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told, APA reports citing RIA Novosti.

Azerbaijan would like to believe that Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov will answer for the crimes they have committed against the Azerbaijanis, MP Aydin Mirzazade told Trend July 31.

Journalist Orhan Jemal, the son of the famous philosopher Heydar Jemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko and director Alexander Rastorguev died in the Central African Republic.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed an order July 31 conferring the honorary title of "Honored Civil Servant" on the President’s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov.

The new contract for the sale of Russian RD-180 rocket engines produced by Energomash to  the United States may fall under the Russian anti-sanctions law. Does Russia want to use this law? Igor Arbuzov, General Director of the maker of RD-180 rocket engines, NPO Energomash, said on Tuesday that his company and the US-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) entered into a new agreement on the delivery of RD-180 rocket engines to the USA. The engines that Russia is selling to the USA are used for the first stage of US Atlas 5 space vehicles. It is an open secret that the Americans have not been able to build an analogue to the Russian engine yet. Can the Russian government use the law "On measures of influence (counteraction) in response to  unfriendly actions of the United States of America and other foreign states" for the above-mentioned deal?Washington has been persistently expanding restrictive measures against the Russian Federation for years now, but Moscow prefers not to do anything in return. The rocket engine deal between Russia and the USA does not affect common citizens. Many would probably say that Russia would harm itself by terminating cooperation with the USA in the space industry. What is the point of such laws then? Scientific director of the Space Policy Institute, Ivan Moiseyev, told Pravda.Ru that Russia's refusal to sell RD-180 rocket engines to the USA would cause considerable damage to their maker, NPO Energomash, to the entire domestic engine building industry, and to Russia on the whole. "The Americans will not even feel any damage. All foreign transactions of this category come as government orders, and Russia receives money for that. There's also our reputation. If we cancel the contract, the reputation will worsen, and new contracts are not likely to follow. As for laws that do not work, this is a common peculiarity of Russian laws - they are adopted for the promotion of certain MPs, rather than for real action," Ivan Moiseyev said.On June 4, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law "On measures of influence (counteraction) in response to unfriendly actions of the United States of America and other foreign states." According to the law, the government of the Russian Federation, upon the decision of the head of state, will be able to introduce retaliatory measures. At the same time, these measures should not affect essential goods, analogues to which are not produced either in Russia or in other countries. For the time being, the Russian government has not submitted any suggestion for responsive measures to the president.

Three people were killed and four injured in a head-on collision between a passenger car and truck in Hajigabul region of Azerbaijan, APA reports.

Before Azerbaijan was famous for oil, it was a land of silk and spices, reads a story published on CNN, according to Trend.

New short article up on War on the Rocks. Here’s a preview….

Last summer, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia will continue to strengthen its forces around the Black Sea in order to “neutralize the security threat in the Black Sea region from NATO.” This rhetoric highlights the change in threat perceptions that has taken place on both sides in the region in recent years. Just 10 years ago, the Black Sea was touted as a model of naval cooperation among former adversaries. Collaborative naval activities such as BlackSeaFor and Black Sea Harmony, as well as regular Russian participation in NATO’s Active Endeavor, promised a future where all Black Sea littoral states worked together to ensure regional security and mitigate security threats such as smuggling. This cooperation started to falter after the 2008 Russo-Georgian war but was maintained through the combined efforts of Russia and NATO members – especially Turkey.

The situation changed radically after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, with NATO leaders expressing concern that Russia could turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake by devoting significant resources to the modernization of the Black Sea Fleet and strengthening Russian military forces in Crimea more generally. Russian political leaders, naval commanders, and policy experts have been open in explaining why they have prioritized the Black Sea Fleet in their naval modernization efforts. Part of that has to do with the parlous state of the fleet prior to 2014. Due to tensions with Ukraine and a general lack of investment in military procurement, Russia had sent only one new combat ship to the fleet between 1991 and 2014. As a result, by 2014 the fleet was barely functional and ships from other fleets had to be used to carry out Russian naval missions in the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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The European Commission will allocate 5 million euros worth grant for the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ( TANAP ), which is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisaging transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, said a message from TANAP consortium.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on awarding "Dostlug" Order to Irina Alexandrovna Viner-Usmanova.

Current ambassador of the Czech Republic to Belarus, Milan Ekert, will be appointed the country’s envoy to Azerbaijan, СTK, national public service news agency in the Czech Republic, reported citing the country’s Foreign Ministry.

An agreement was reached on another meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told APA.

The delegation headed by Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzadeh presented Azerbaijan at the 24th International Exhibition of Electronics, Computer Equipment and Electronic Commerce (ELECOMP) held in Tehran.