After the meeting with Tillerson, the meeting with Putin was inevitable

The only news, got from the supposedly Russian diplomatic sources, to the Azerbaijani pro-governmental resource about Aliyev's statements on the intrigues of "third forces", in particular, the Armenian forces in Moscow, wishing to drive a wedge into relations between the two states.

At the handshake ceremony on July 22, the two presidents defined the topic of consultations as issues of bilateral relations, world and regional policy. An explicit emphasis was placed on regional projects, which, as you know, are in the final stage of the project. Although the presidents did not publicly mention them, it is known that they are about the North-South and East-West railway corridors, which are in the pre-launch stage and the energy trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which until now has been waiting for Moscow's blessing. And, of course, the important issue of the exchange of opinions was the draft agreement on strategic partnership of Azerbaijan with the EU, which is being signed in the autumn.

A couple of days before the meeting between Putin and Aliyev in Baku, tripartite consultations of the foreign and customs services of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan were held, which declared the need for the speedy launch of all communication trans-Caspian projects.

Taking into account the special care of all three participants in this sensitive issue, where the word of Russia always had a special significance, we can talk about a certain change in the view from Moscow to the Turkic cooperation in the Caucasus region.

Russia has stable relations with all three participants of the transit process and their summation in a single point cannot be unprofitable for Moscow, especially in the light of the settlement of global challenges for Russia, among which the economic crisis, the protection of traditional Russian economic spheres of influence take the first place.

The Putin-Aliyev working meeting and the consultations of the Turkic Troyka in Baku could receive an impetus from the meeting of the Russian and US presidents in Hamburg at the G20 meeting, where the parties noted the achievement of agreement and mutual understanding on almost all issues. The issue of the South Caucasus plays an important role, especially the issue of a further, higher level of integration of the South Caucasus into the Western community, both at the economic and political level.

The political part of the cooperation for today remained less advanced due to Russia's negative attitude toward such a trend. But the messages that followed the Trump-Putin meeting about Moscow's agreement to build strategic relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the European Union show that the Kremlin received assurances of security for its interests in the region and that the South Caucasus-EU relations will not create a headache for Putin and his entourage.

More detailed information on Trump and Putin's arrangements for Azerbaijan and the region can be obtained from US Secretary of State Tillerson who arrived after the summit in Hamburg in Istanbul, where he received the Azerbaijani leader on July 10, who held consultations with Erdogan last night. After agreeing with Tillerson on further steps on a regional scale, the meeting with the Putin was inevitable.