MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported.
Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening.
His visit to the Caucasus country, a close partner of both Moscow and Turkiye but also a major energy supplier to Western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.
Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems,” the Kremlin said.
The two leaders are dining Sunday evening at the Azerbaijani president’s official residence, local official news agency Asertac said.
On Monday, Aliyev and Putin will sign joint documents and make statements to the press, said Russian agency Ria Novosti.
Putin will also lay a wreath on the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, father of the current leader, who was president from 1993 to 2003.
Earlier, the Kremlin said they would also discuss “the question of settling (the conflict) between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
Azerbaijan reconquered the mountainous enclave in September 2023 from the Armenian separatists who had held it for three decades.
Armenia accused Russia of inadequate support in its conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Since then, Armenia has sought to deepen its ties with Western countries, especially the United States, much to the annoyance of Moscow, which considers both former Soviet republics to be in its sphere of influence.
Azerbaijan is a major producer of natural gas, to whom many European countries turned to make up for the sharp reduction in Russian deliveries after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
It is also hosting the COP29 climate conference in November.
Putin’s last visit to Azerbaijan was in September 2018.
Putin has been under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court since March 2023 for the “deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
While the threat of arrest has limited Putin’s travels abroad, Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC.
Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit
https://arab.news/yecqs
Putin arrives in Azerbaijan for state visit
- Putin is due to hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral relations and “international and regional problems,” the Kremlin said
Nigeria mosque bombing kills at least seven
- The bomb went off inside a crowded mosque in the city’s Gamboru market during early evening prayers
- Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by Boko Haram jihadis
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: An explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri and killed at least seven worshippers Wednesday, witnesses and security sources told AFP.
No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility for what anti-jihadist militia leader Babakura Kolo said was a suspected bombing.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by jihadist groups Boko Haram and an offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, though the city itself has not seen a major attack in years.
The bomb went off inside a crowded mosque in the city’s Gamboru market, as Muslim faithful gathered for evening prayers around 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), according to witnesses.
One of the leaders of the mosque, Malam Abuna Yusuf, put the toll at eight dead, though officials have not yet released a casualty count.
“We can confirm there has been an explosion,” police spokesman Nahum Daso told AFP, adding that an explosive ordnance disposal team was already on-site.
Kolo said that seven were killed.
He said it was suspected that the bomb was placed inside the mosque and exploded midway through prayers, while some witnesses described a suicide bombing.
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured, though witness Isa Musa Yusha’u told AFP: “I saw many victims being taken away for medical treatment.”
Videos taken in the aftermath and seen by AFP showed a person covered in blood writhing on the ground, and what appeared to be bodies covered by a sheet.
A security alert sent by an international NGO to its staff in Maiduguri, seen by AFP, advised its workers to stay away from the Gamboru market area.
Deadly insurgency
Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009 in a conflict that has killed at least 40,000 and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the UN.
Though the violence has waned since its peak a decade ago, it has spilt into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
And concerns are growing about a resurgence of violence in parts of the northeast, where insurgent groups remain capable of mounting deadly attacks despite years of sustained military operations.
Maiduguri itself — once the scene of nightly gunbattles and bombings — has been calm in recent years, with the last major attack recorded in 2021.
But reminders of the conflict are never far off in the state capital, where major military operations are headquartered.
Military pick-ups lumber through town daily, their beds filled with soldiers whose helmets shield them from the hot afternoon sun.
Evening checkpoints are still in effect, even as markets that once closed in the early afternoon throng into the night.
Meanwhile, in the countryside, the insurgency continues to rage, with analysts warning of an uptick in jihadist violence this year.
