Sergey Naryshkin Discusses Counteracting Western Intelligence Operations in Baku

On October 2-3, Sergey Naryshkin, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, made an official visit to Baku, where he met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the leadership of Azerbaijan's Foreign Intelligence Service and State Security Service.

According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, during the meeting with Ilham Aliyev, current issues regarding the international situation, cooperation between the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and Azerbaijani intelligence agencies, and priorities for bilateral interaction in the near future were discussed.

During negotiations with the leadership of Azerbaijan’s intelligence and security services, it was noted that "Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation in the field of intelligence is developing dynamically, is constructive, mutually beneficial, and based on trust, aimed at achieving concrete results in protecting the national interests of both Russia and Azerbaijan." The discussions included opinions on countering international terrorism and religious extremism.

"Particular attention in the cooperation between the intelligence services of Russia and Azerbaijan is given to efforts aimed at identifying hostile intentions of Western intelligence agencies, which are directed at undermining the internal political stability of our states," the statement noted.

The meetings emphasized that in the current context, "one of the main tasks of intelligence and counterintelligence is the timely detection and prevention of subversive activities organized abroad with anti-Russian and anti-Azerbaijani aims."

The need to enhance joint efforts to counter the use of non-systemic opposition and international terrorist organizations by foreign intelligence agencies to destabilize the socio-political situation in Russia and Azerbaijan was also highlighted in the statement.

It is worth noting that the Azerbaijani side did not provide any information regarding Naryshkin's visit to Baku.