Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a declaration on allied cooperation at a meeting in the Kremlin on 22 February.

Russia's government website described it as an agreement that "raises relations between Russia and Azerbaijan to the level of an alliance."

Pro-government websites in Azerbaijan have compared the document to the Shusha Declaration signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The 43-article declaration states that Russia and Azerbaijan build their relations on the basis of allied interaction, deeper constructive cooperation, including at the bilateral level, by taking the same or similar positions on topical international issues, as well as international organisations and organisations of mutual interest.

In addition, the document states that the countries should hold urgent consultations to resolve any situation that, in the opinion of one of the parties, threatens peace, violates the peace, or affects the security interests of one of the parties.

They resolutely prevent the activities of organisations and individuals in their territories that go against the state sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the other party.

The parties will develop bilateral military-political cooperation that meets national interests and is not directed against third countries and will deepen military cooperation.

They may also consider the possibility of providing military assistance to each other based on the UN Charter, separate international agreements and taking into account the international legal obligations of each of the parties in order to ensure security and maintain peace and stability.

Russia and Azerbaijan will refrain from carrying out any economic activities that directly or indirectly harm the interests of the other party.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Aliyev that economic ties between Russia and Azerbaijan are well diversified, which creates a basis for further development of relations between the two countries. He thanked President Aliyev for the support and development of the Russian language in Azerbaijan. "I know that Russian is actively studied and popular in 300 schools in Azerbaijan, and, of course, we will support it in the future by all means," Putin said.

President Aliyev said that the declaration has more than 40 items:

"It covers the most important areas of our interaction and, as I have already said, will be of great importance for the future of our bilateral relations." According to him, this document "will be unequivocally very positive for our countries, our relations, as well as regional security." 

According to MP, political scientist Rasim Musabayov, the "Declaration on Mutual Alliance" will be "concretely analysed" after the signing and publication of this document.

"But without seeing the text of this document, I can say that it is inappropriate to talk about Azerbaijan turning its back on Turkey and throwing itself into Russia, or drawing a line over the Shusha Declaration," Rasim Musabayov told. "Although this declaration is called 'On Allied Activities', I do not think that its content can neutralize the Azerbaijani-Turkish alliance," Musabayov added.

"On the other hand, Turkey has a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Russia, which includes a clause on the High-Level Cooperation Council. The Russia-Turkey High-Level Cooperation Council has been operating since 2010. This mechanism provides for annual joint meetings between the two governments. Russian-Turkish relations are discussed at these meetings and various cooperation agreements are signed. The Council intends to discuss, among other issues, strategic partnership and security issues between Turkey and Russia," Rasim Musabayov concluded.

Chairman of the Caucasus Center for Strategic Studies Araz Aslanli commented:

"The name of the document does not comply with our language rules. There is no expression in our native language in the form of ‘allied interaction’ (for example, they could write ‘allied relations’). A search on the Internet also shows that such a statement has not been written anywhere so far. In general, it is not clear to me why the word ‘mutual’ is written before the word ‘cooperation’ in other documents."

"Article 7 states that the alliance is mentioned only at the level of consultation is an indication of the general picture. However, most union documents state that they act together as the next article," he added. Aslanli noted that the signing of the document on the anniversary of the Turkmenchay agreement was very interesting. The disrespect shown to the territories of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the social media accounts of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the day of the signing of the alliance document by the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia is at least sad.

Political commentator Shahin Jafarli flagged that the "Declaration on Allied Interaction" signed with Russia is a document restricting the independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

“The Shusha Declaration and the basic provision of the 2010 Azerbaijan-Turkey agreement on which it is based – ‘consultations and military assistance in the event of a threat to one of the parties’ - are also included in the document signed with Russia. The Shusha Declaration is also seen as an alliance commitment to protect our country from a possible Russian threat or its proxies. Now it is not clear who will protect us from whom. What will happen when the interests of these two countries collide? What will Baku do when Ankara wants to cooperate with us on any issue that is against the interests of Moscow and Moscow is against the interests of Ankara?" he noted.

Jafarli added that “the second important point in the military issue is that it is known that Azerbaijan has begun to reorganise its army to Turkish (NATO) standards. At the same time, in recent years, Azerbaijan has pursued a policy of reducing its dependence on Russian armaments. The declaration signed with Russia agreed to deepen cooperation between the Russian and Azerbaijani armed forces, including joint operations and combat training, equipping them with modern weapons and military equipment, and joint production of various types of military products. This is clearly aimed at preventing Turkish influence within the Azerbaijani army. The emphasis on ‘maintaining and strengthening security and stability in the Caspian region, respecting the interests of all Caspian littoral states’ also aims to prevent Turkey's military presence at sea.”

Political commentator Javidan Ahmadkhanli said that “the official naming of issues such as territorial integrity and separatism will increase our room for manoeuvre in this matter, but it is still questionable whether this legal mechanism will change the real situation on the ground.”

"One thing to keep in mind is that in times of crisis or dispute, contracts with small states can become a very large legal ‘reference’ for large states, and sometimes just a piece of paper. In any case, Russia's political will and style of action will be more decisive than the provisions.

Therefore, it will be clear at the time of the crisis how Russia looks at this agreement and the nature of the 'alliance' with Azerbaijan," he said.